Fresh Produce in NYC Schools

April 21, 2010

This morning”s breakfast general session began with an introduction of the incoming United Fresh board of directors, with Stephanie Smith, CEO of River Point Farms, Hermiston, Ore., the chairman. She encouraged United Fresh members to become involved in the association to help influence policymakers, and support the association”s school salad bar initiative.

Smith”s goal is to raise $3 million in funds over the next three years to donate salad bars to low-income and rural schools, and so far $500,000 has already been donated to fund the first salad bars at schools in Ohio, Washington, D.C., and Nevada. United Fresh also has made a commitment to the New Orleans school system, so that attendees at next year”s trade show can see the program in action.

Smith then read a letter from First Lady Michelle Obama, who said she supported the goals of the association and its members in improving the health of children by increasing the consumption of fruits and vegetables and making access to fresh food easier.

The New York City school system is an excellent example in how fresh produce can be used in schools. Eric Goldstein, head of food and transportation for the New York City school system, and Jorge Collazo, executive chef for School Foods, spoke about what they are doing to increase consumption and access in elementary through high school students.

The School Foods department serves 205,000 breakfasts free everday and 860,000 total meals a day at more than 1,700 schools. The staff of almost 10,000 serves 1.1 million school students.

One of the primary initiatives Goldstein introduced was self-serve salad bars, which are not reimbursed by federal programs that support the food program. The city supports the program, however, and Goldstein said without that support the salad bars would not be as widespread as they are now. Federal stimulus funding is supporting the hire of two chefs to focus on salad bar merchandising.

Other programs that Collazo and Goldstein have implemented to increase fresh produce access include getting rid of vending machines that sell candy and fundraisers that sell candy. Within the next few weeks, fresh produce vending machines will be installed in a pilot program in 20 schools, and the system also is launching “Student Celebrations,” a birthday and special event catering service that offers sliced apples and baby carrots instead of cupcakes.

The school system is able to do a remarkable job serving fresh produce on $1 a day per child, and Collazo and Goldstein encouraged United Fresh members to make their voices heard to provide more federal dollars in the next Child Nutrition Reauthorization.

The last speaker of the morning session was FDA”s Deputy Commissioner for Food Michael Taylor. He spoke about the need for industry input in food safety initiatives and the unprecedented time we are in, where consensus in society is in favor of improving the food safety system. He said FDA should be a prevention-oriented food safety system, should be based on science with targeted research efforts, should be comprehensive from farm to fork and importers should be held to the same standards and food produced in the United States – not testing at entry but pushing food safety back through the pipeline.

The trade show opens in a few minutes, so check back for updates on new equipment and products throughout the day.






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