IFCO Contributes Salad Bars To Detroit-Area Schools

TAMPA, FL  — IFCO SYSTEMS, the leading global provider of reusable packaging solutions, is donating salad bars to five Romulus Community Schools, which are located southwest of Detroit. IFCO’s donations are being made in coordination with the United Fresh Foundation’s Let's Move Salad Bars to MIDWEST Schools campaign, which works to increase children's access to and consumption of fresh fruits and vegetables in Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio and Wisconsin. 

“IFCO has a long and strong history of corporate social responsibility, particularly in the area of helping to make high quality fresh produce available to school kids. We proudly support organizations that promote initiatives impacting the everyday lives of people in the communities we serve, such as United Fresh’s salad bar initiative, Forgotten Harvest, a food bank in the greater Detroit area, and related food safety initiatives,” said Dan Walsh, President of IFCO North America.

Salad bars were implemented at the following schools at the start of the 2014-15 school year:

• Romulus Middle School, 716 students
• Cory Pre-School, 95 students
• Wick Elementary School, 383 students
• Romulus Elementary School, 414 students
• Hale Creek Elementary School, 289 students.

"The students, teachers, administrators and parents in Romulus deeply appreciate the donation of salad bars by IFCO. They will help support our goal of engraining good eating habits starting at a very young age with the hope they will last throughout our student’s lives,” said Kathleen Norred, Food Service Director, Romulus Community Schools.

The salad bars were arranged through a partnership with the United Fresh Foundation <http://www.unitedfresh.org/>  to support the organization’s Let's Move Salad Bars to Schools <http://www.saladbars2schools.org/>  initiative, which is committed to increasing children’s produce consumption by working with the produce industry, foundations and allied businesses to support salad bars for schools nationwide.  In January 2014, the Foundation announced a special Midwest focus to their campaign, aligning the initiative with their annual produce industry convention in Chicago. Let’s Move Salad Bars to MIDWEST Schools, a special campaign under the umbrella of the national effort, is focused on supporting salad bars for schools in six Midwest states: Michigan, Illinois, Indiana, Minnesota, Ohio and Wisconsin.

“IFCO continues to be an excellent partner in our efforts to increase children’s access to fresh fruits and vegetables. This donation to the Romulus Community Schools is a perfect example of a public-private partnership to educate students in their formative years about the importance of eating fresh produce and establishing healthy eating habits,” said Tom Stenzel, President & CEO of United Fresh Produce Association. 

Let’s Move Salad Bars to Schools has facilitated the donation of salad bars to more than 3,500 schools, benefiting nearly 2 million students every day. Nationwide, salad bars are changing school food environments and helping students make the healthy choice, the easy choice.

For further information, please contact:
Hillary Femal
VP – Global Marketing
T: + 1813 463 4124 | F: + 1 813 286 2070 | M: + 1 813 992 1470
Hillary.Femal@ifco.com

About IFCO
With more than 200 million Reusable Plastic Containers (RPCs) in circulation in 33 countries, IFCO is the leading provider of reusable containers to the fresh food sector worldwide. IFCO handles more than 1 billion RPC transfers each year, transporting the containers to fresh produce growers and other users and collecting them from retail distribution centers. After each use, IFCO RPCs are folded, collected and shipped to one of IFCO’s 48 service facilities, where they are sanitized using the latest food safety processes and prepared for re-use. IFCO launched its first RPCs pool in 1992 and continues to expand into new markets and with new product innovations. IFCO is part of Brambles Limited.

WORLDWIDE RESPONSIBILITY is an IFCO initiative under which the Company continues to assume its social and environmental responsibilities. IFCO supports Food Banks worldwide in their noble effort to provide food to the needy through the provision of reusable containers and by co-financing delivery vehicles. More than 120,000 IFCO RPCs have been donated to date and 40 delivery vehicles are being co-sponsored. IFCO environmental commitment includes minimizing the impact on the environment through continuous improvement, providing efficient, safe and sustainable solutions in customer supply chains and contributing positively to all communities.

Source: IFCO