National campaign:

Outline  What is Let’s Move Salad Bars to Schools (LMSB2S)  History, goals & progress  Partners  Why salad bars in schools  Effectiveness  Relationship with new school meal rule  How do I get a salad bar  Application process  Resources & Best Practices

Let’s Move Salad Bars to Schools Launch November 22, 2010 Riverside Elementary School, Miami

Let’s Move Salad Bars to Schools is…  A comprehensive grassroots public health effort to mobilize and engage stakeholders at the local, state and national level to support salad bars in schools  National Goal – donate 6,000 salad bars to schools by the end of 2013  Progress as of October salad bars donated Bottom Line: This is a funding mechanism for equipment

Partners and Sponsors  Founding Partners:  Food, Family, Farming Foundation (F3), United Fresh, National Fruit & Vegetable Alliance (NFVA), Whole Foods Markets  Major Sponsors:  Whole Foods Markets, Chiquita, Dole, Taylor Farms  Supporting Friends:  Partnership for Healthier America, National Farm to School Network

National Fruit & Vegetable Alliance

Whole Foods Market & The Lunchbox (F3) Raised $1.4 million Donated 560+ salad bars United Fresh Produce Association Donated over 100 salad bars in 12 states

Why Salad or Choice Bars  When offered choices, children will: Try new foods Decrease waste Increase the variety in their diet Increase their fruit and vegetable consumption  Salad bars can: Increase revenue for school meal programs Improve the public perception of school meal programs Increase school meal participation

Salad Bars Make it Easy to Make Half Your Plate Fruits and Vegetables

 Salad bars can be a very effective way to meet the proposed new standards  Changes in standards:  For breakfast, fruit doubles to 1 cup/day  For lunch, amount of F&V doubles and emphasizes variety and color:  ¾-1 cup of vegetables PLUS ½-1 cup of fruit/day  Weekly requirement for dark green, red and orange vegetables and legumes New USDA Standards for School Breakfast & Lunch

Salad Bars Use  Complete reimbursable meal  Fruit and vegetable component only  As part of farm to school program (local produce)  Utilize USDA commodity foods  Ability to serve special diet needs

Minnesota LMSB2S Plan Phase 1: Application focused Create easily accessible application support Donor and food service info Donor mobilization October 2011 Phase 2: Best Practices Training and evaluation best practices Food Safety fact sheet Cost effective strategies January 2012

Reproducible Materials

Schools/Districts Must Apply Online  1 page online application, including a superintendent letter of support  District or school applications  Priority goes to:  Healthier US Schools Challenge (HUSSC) Awardees  All schools in NSLP – prioritized based on % free/reduced & commitment to salad bars Reminder: If you don’t apply, you can’t receive

Sample Form Letter: Nutrition staff requesting support of Superintendant  /divs/hpcd/chp/cdrr/nutrition/ FTS/saladbars-schools.html /divs/hpcd/chp/cdrr/nutrition/ FTS/saladbars-schools.html

LMSB2S Salad Bar Package  Cambro portable 72” 5-well insulated salad bar with two tray rails (regular or low height)*  Buffet Camchillers ®  Translucent polypropylene food pans  16 x 9” Scalloped serving tongs * Vollrath electric (mechanically cooled) salad bar also available by special request

Food Safety  Is it legal? Yes, even for elementary  Does everything have to be pre-portioned? No  Lots of Resources such as:  The LunchBox  NSFMI

Examples of Best Practices

Salad bars have the potential to “nudge” people to make healthier food choices BRIAN WANSINK, DAVID R. JUST and JOE McKENDRY (Cornell Univ.)

Cook County Schools SHIP grantee supported trial of salad bar as a reimbursable meal option Half as much food was thrown away 38% more staff ate during the month the trial was offered To decrease waste and control portions, a 8.75 inch plate was used

Resources  Let’s Move Salad Bars to Schools (National):  Minnesota Department of Health - Let's Move Salad Bars to Schools: n/FTS/saladbars-schools.html n/FTS/saladbars-schools.html  National Food Service Management Institute “Handling Fresh Produce on Salad Bars”: pdf pdf  Salad Bars - The Lunch Box Guide: rs-The%20Lunch%20Box%20Guide_v1_0.pdf rs-The%20Lunch%20Box%20Guide_v1_0.pdf  The LunchBox:

Thank You… and… more to come Lisa Gemlo, MPH, RD, LD