Thanks to a nationwide push for putting fresh fruits and vegetables at the forefront of the lunch line, more than 60,000 children throughout Texas will benefit from new salad bars donated by the United Fresh Foundation.
On Tuesday, the nonprofit organization handed over the ceremonial tongs to nutritional directors from 100 Texas schools at its annual expo at the Dallas Convention Center. The donation, which was made possible by the national “Let’s Move Salad Bars to Schools” initiative, marked one of the largest events in the country, said Lorelei DiSorgra, vice president of nutrition and health for United Fresh Produce Association, based out of Washington, D.C.
“Produce industry members from across the United States have rallied to support salad bars for Texas schools, a fantastic example of our members’ commitment to increasing fresh fruit and vegetable consumption for tens of thousands of students in Texas and across the nation,” DiSorga said in a release.
“Let’s Move Salad Bars to Schools” is a comprehensive public health effort to engage stakeholders at the local, state and national level to support the implementation of fresher and greener meal options in the public school system. The initiative, which supports Michelle Obama’s “Let’s Move!” program to end childhood obesity, hopes to award 6,000 salad bars by 2013.
“The future of Texas lies in the minds of our children,” said Drew DeBerry, deputy commissioner of agriculture for the Texas Department of Agriculture. “But we are also leaders in other things like obesity and hunger. These complex problems demand comprehensive strategic solutions. What better way than with a salad bar like this?”
Schools in Frisco ISD and Coppell ISD were among those that received the salad bars, which are expected to roll out for the 2012-2013 school year. With Frisco’s schools having already received USDA’s Healthier U.S. School Challenge Award, the salad bars will be another way to get students excited about making healthy decisions, said Debra Tredennick, director of child nutrition programs for Frisco ISD.
“The Frisco ISD is excited about the opportunity to begin the new school year with 10 more salad bars,” Tredennick said in a release. “The new USDA school meal regulations are going to require students to take a fruit or vegetable at lunch; the salad bars will present fruits and veggies in such a way that our students will really want to select and eat more of these healthy items.”
Although Plano ISD was not among the 100 recipients under the national grant, the district also has plans for revamping its nutritional options this fall. The district did not apply for the grant because it wanted to be able to be more flexible in the things it offers on its salad bars, said Cynthia Lee, Plano ISD director of food and nutritional services.
“We had the opportunity to apply for the grant. I looked at it, but it really had some things attached to it that I wasn’t that comfortable with,” she said. “I thought we could apply the same service a different way and using a different method. This is something we will implement throughout the district and see how it goes.”
The district has tried serving salads in different ways, including pre-packaged salads and salad bars. In the past, Lee said, salads have been introduced across the district with varying degrees of success. Next year, salads will be an option at Plano schools, but only on certain days. Also unlike the United Fresh Foundation’s salad bars, Plano’s salad bars will not be standalone, but rather they will use one of the existing lunch lines for offering greener selections, Lee said.
“One of the things the students really want is to be able to select what they eat; to have some choices,” she said. “We won’t have them everyday at every campus because we don’t want the newness to wear off. We want them to be something special.”
The model of using one of the existing lines was tried out at Hendrick Middle School and was deemed a success, Lee said. Using the Hendrick model, there will be a large variety of offerings at the salad bar, including several kinds of lettuce, three kinds of meat and several different vegetable options.
Salad bars will cost the same as a regular meal, $2.25 at elementary schools and $2.75 at secondary schools, Lee said.
With the implementation of the Healthy Hunger Free Kids Act of 2010, Plano schools will limit meat and bread serving sizes and offer more dark green and red/orange vegetables like peas, legumes, red peppers and sweet potatoes. It will also increase fruit and vegetable serving sizes, offer low fat or fat free milk, reduce sodium and incorporate salad bars, Lee said.
“If I have a salad bar, I’d want to be able to have yogurt parfaits and have some things out there as garnishes for students,” she said. “I want to be able to use the salad bar that way. We will have more flexibility. When you apply for grants, there are always strings attached. I was asked and I did review it, but I didn’t think this was the route I wanted to take at this time.”
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