LONDONDERRY, N.H., Oct. 24 /PRNewswire/ -- This week Rhode Island students are some of the first in the nation to have a new option in their school's vending -- an innovative healthy, vending machine. Not only is this refrigerated vending machine a novel contribution to the world of school food, but it came from a once unlikely partnership. Stonyfield Farm, the nation's largest organic yogurt company, Kids First, a local nutrition education organization, distributor United Natural Foods, Inc., Rhode Island school administration, and high school students have brought together the best in taste and health to help improve student nutrition.
(Photo: NewsCom: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20031024/NEFNS1 )
Three schools have joined the first healthy vending pilot subsidized by Stonyfield Farm, including Tollgate, Cranston East and Cranston West High Schools. The machine includes organic yogurt, string cheese, dried fruit, soy nuts, and pita chips among other low-fat and low-sugar products. Each item selected for the machine has gone through two rigorous tests -- meeting the nutritional standards set up by Kids First and being taste-tested by students. The Kids First guidelines for are based on a food-group focused approach that encourages the offering of snack foods that are of maximal nutrient density. These foods also have minimal added sugars and fats, so are essentially lean sources of protein and/or complex carbohydrates containing a significant amount (10%) of at least one of the following: calcium, vitamin C, vitamin A, iron or fiber.
Dorothy Hebert, Executive Director of Kids First describes healthy vending and her work with Stonyfield to change the future of children's health. "For the past 18 months, healthy vending in schools has been a Kids First dream. We have been working behind-the-scenes researching existing guidelines, seeking and sampling hundreds of products, conducting taste-tests with students, and presenting the concept of healthier vending to schools and vending suppliers. Stonyfield was impressed with our work and began helping us to make this dream a reality through this exciting pilot project. I am certain that together we can make a difference in building healthier school environments for our children."
Vending, which is not regulated by the USDA is a particularly critical area to change. According to researchers at the University of Minnesota School of Public Health, in study published by the American Public Health Association, "competitive foods" such as those foods sold a la carte or in a vending machine have no federal nutritional guidelines and these foods are higher in fat.
"Let's face it, businesses like mine can either be part of the problem or part of the solution," explains Gary Hirshberg, a father of three and Stonyfield Farm's President & CE-Yo. "Twenty years in the yogurt business have taught me that if kids are offered great-tasting, healthy alternatives they will make the right decision. With healthy vending we can help schools take a step toward improving nutrition and help change our children's future." The current obesity epidemic amongst youth (one in seven now suffers from the health problem according to the US Centers on Disease Control and Prevention) ignited Hirshberg to get involved with improving school food and sparked the development of a program he started a year ago called Menu for Change.
Stonyfield is currently working to partner with school districts in several other states to offer this healthy vending program, including California, Connecticut, New York, Massachusetts and New Hampshire. They have posted an application for interested schools on their website at http://www.stonyfield.com/MenuForChange/ParentActionKit/SchoolApplication.cfm
The Menu for Change program includes other initiatives that also encourage change in school nutrition. The Superintendent's Challenge is another business/school/non-profit partnership that Stonyfield created, and launched in California and Washington State this fall, that seeks to incent schools with that create the most innovative and successful nutrition programs with cash awards. Stonyfield Farm's Menu for Change also includes the Parent Action Kit available online at www.stonyfield.com which offers useful tools and ideas to help interested parents, students, educators, and advocates bring help bring healthier foods into school.
About Stonyfield Farm
Stonyfield Farm, celebrating its 20th year, is the world's largest organic yogurt company with all natural and Certified Organic yogurt, cultured soy, frozen yogurt and ice cream distributed in all 50 states. The company advocates that healthy food can only come from a healthy planet. It is the nation's first dairy processor to pay farmers not to treat cows with the synthetic bovine growth hormone rBGH. Stonyfield donates 10% of its profits to environmental causes. In addition, Stonyfield is America's first manufacturer to offset 100% of its CO2 emissions from its facility energy use, just one of their efforts to reduce global warming. For more information on the company's many other environmental and health initiatives, visit www.stonyfield.com or call 1-800-PRO-COWS.
Contact: Cathleen Toomey
603-437-4040 ext. 2306
SOURCE Stonyfield Farm
CONTACT: Cathleen Toomey of Stonyfield Farm, +1-603-437-4040 ext. 2306
© PR Newswire
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