US: Harris Teeter helping bring salad bars to community schools

Harris Teeter is launching a campaign designed to bring salad bars to schools in the Harris Teeter market communities to support Let’s Move Salad Bars to Schools (LMSB2S). In collaboration with the United Fresh Produce Association Foundation, a founding partner of LMSB2S, Fresh Express, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Chiquita Brands, and nine additional produce suppliers, Harris Teeter will donate salad bars to at least 10 schools. These salad bars will benefit more than 5,000 students by providing them a healthy lunch option filled with fresh produce.

Harris Teeter shoppers will also have the opportunity to bring salad bars to schools thru a "Text-to-Donate" campaign. Promotional materials and information will be found in all Harris Teeter stores August 19th through September 15th. Shoppers can donate $5 by texting "SALAD" to 80077 or they can visit www.SaladBars2Schools.org to give securely online. The "Text-to-Donate" campaign will accept donations through October 11, 2012. Fresh Express, the industry leader in providing consumers with fresh, healthy, convenient ready-to-eat salads, leafy greens, vegetables and fruits, will match shopper donations up to $15,000. In addition to raising funds for LMSB2S, shoppers will find Harris Teeter’s "Healthy Lunch 101" – a produce guide providing parents with tips on how to pack more fruits and vegetables into their children’s lunches.

Why Salad Bars? Children significantly increase their consumption of fruits and vegetables when given a variety of choices in school fruit and vegetable salad bars. With exposure through school lunch options, children try new fruits and vegetables, incorporate greater variety into their diets and increase their daily consumption of fruits and vegetables. With increased daily access to a variety of fruits and vegetables, children learn to make decisions that carry over outside of school, providing a platform for a lifetime of healthy snack and meal choices. The White House Task Force on Childhood Obesity has endorsed salad bars.

"Salad bars are an effective way for schools to meet the new school lunch guidelines, which calls for doubling the amount of fruits and vegetables available to students at lunch," said Bob Stallman, general manager of Fresh Express. "These efforts are in-line with our mission of Improving World Nutrition and support our commitment to making fresh produce convenient and accessible to the communities in which we live and work."

The salad bar donations will be made possible by the generous contributions of the following companies/individuals: Harris Teeter shoppers, Chiquita Brands, Alpine Fresh, Modern Mushrooms, Monterey Mushrooms, California Giant Berry Farms, Apio, Wholly Guacamole, National Mango Board, National Watermelon Promotion Board, Marie’s Dressings and Harris Teeter.

LMSB2S was developed to provide salad bars to schools across the country to increase children’s consumption of fruits and vegetables and to support First Lady Michele Obama’s Let’s Move! initiative to end childhood obesity within a generation. To date, more than 1,600 salad bars have been donated to schools nationwide through LMSB2S.

or more information:
Catherine Reuhl
Harris Teeter
Tel: +1 704 844-3904
[email protected]