Irwindale, CA – Just before Labor Day, Agriculture Under Secretary for Food, Nutrition and Consumer Services Kevin Concannon, along with School Nutrition Association National President Sandy Ford and National Parent Teacher Association President Betsy Landers, hosted a media conference call to discuss the changes to school meals being implemented this year. While they did not endorse any specific product or commodities as part of this call, the intent was to share the focus centered around the new standards which were established under the Healthy Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010 and are meant to ensure that school children are offered both fruits and vegetables every day of the week. There are also substantially increased offerings of whole grain-rich foods and low-fat or fat-free milk while they focus on reductions in portion size and calories based on the age of children being served, as well as on reducing the amounts of sodium, saturated fat and trans fat in school meals. Although the standards present challenges for school foodservice directors, they represent opportunities for produce marketers.
Ready Pac Foods, producer of fresh-cut produce and other value-added fresh foods, has been providing healthy products for school-age children for many years. For example, the company’s lines of Cool Cuts® snacks and Ready Snax® products provide easy alternatives for parents to pack healthy snacks with their children’s school lunches. Several years ago the company identified school meals as a new business opportunity, and it has been a priority since then to work with schools across the country to develop healthy and great tasting options that still meet the strict nutritional guidelines.
“Ready Pac works with school systems on incorporating healthy meals for kids into menu planning, and last school year we conducted recipe development work for a major metropolitan school system,” said Tristan Simpson, director of marketing at Ready Pac. “We built on that experience, and now Ready Pac is starting off the school year with a new value-added program to help schools across the nation meet the new federal guidelines.”
Understanding children’s taste preferences is a key to the success of the Ready Pac program, because if the kids don’t enjoy the healthy options they simply won’t choose them. The availability of less healthy school meal and snack options in schools has contributed to childhood obesity rates in America, which have tripled over the last three decades. Today nearly one in three children in America is overweight or obese. This puts them at risk for diabetes at some point in their lives, along with chronic obesity-related health problems like heart disease, high blood pressure, cancer, and asthma.
“Having two pre-teen boys myself, I’m very proud of the work Ready Pac is doing to improve upon healthier meal choices for students,” said Simpson. “It not only helps our company growth, but also helps school foodservice directors and the schoolchildren they serve.”
COMPANY BIO: California-based Ready Pac is a premier producer of convenience fresh foods including fresh-cut produce. With processing facilities throughout the United States, Ready Pac’s award-winning salads, snacks, fresh-cut fruit and vegetables are distributed in supermarkets and restaurant chains across North America. For more information, visit www.readypac.com
Source: Ready Pac
