Salad Bars Coming To Cafeterias
Fifty-seven new salad bars, valued at more than $300,000, have been donated to public schools across the five boroughs by Whole Foods Market and their Whole Kids Foundation, Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced last Thursday, Aug. 23.
As noted, the Department of Education (DOE), with the support of the Mayor’s Fund and Fund for Public Schools, has already installed more than 1,000 salad bars in city schools through the NYC School Salad Bar Initiative. As part of the Mayor’s Task Force on Obesity, the city will finish installing salad bars in all public schools city-wide by 2015 to ensure that city school children have access to fresh vegetables on a daily basis.
The mayor was joined at the announcement in Manhattan by Health Commissioner Thomas A. Farley, Food Policy Coordinator Kim Kessler, Community Affairs Commissioner Nazli Parvizi, Whole Foods Market Regional President Christina Minardi, Whole Kids Foundation Executive Director Nona Evans, Deputy Chancellor Kathleen Grimm and Executive Director of the Educational Construction Fund Jamie Smarr.
“Thanks to our pioneering initiatives, New York City has recently defied the national trend and seen an unprecedented decline in childhood obesity,” said Bloomberg. “Giving every student access to healthy fruit and vegetables is the next step in countering the obesity epidemic and getting kids started on a healthy habit for life. Kids love salad bars in schools-I keep hearing that they are often the first choice for lunch-and this donation from Whole Foods will help bring this delicious and healthy option to more kids.”
“We provide students with healthy and delicious school meals that are low in fat, sodium and calories and thanks to Whole Foods we can add to our inventory of salad bars,” Schools Chancellor Dennis Walcott stated. “Currently, we have more than 1,000 salad bars in our schools and the new donation will ensure that more students will have more options. We have been at the forefront of providing healthy meals. Since 2004, we have replaced whole milk with low-fat milk, white bread with whole wheat and this year we are introducing organic yogurt.”
“Reversing the obesity epidemic requires actions by individuals, corporations, and government, working together,” added Farley. “Whole Foods is playing a part by donating salad bars for our kids, which is just the kind of action we need. Improving childhood nutrition and offering more ways for kids to be physically active in schools are both critically important in reducing obesity among school-aged children.”
“Healthy communities start with healthy children,” said Parvizi. “I believe strongly in the ability of our youth to become the future leaders their neighborhoods need them to be but children need to be active and healthy in order to be contributing members of our society. Providing access to fresh vegetables in the schools is a great start to putting kids in the best frame of mind to learn and serve.”
In December 2011, the city achieved a significant victory in the battle against obesity when, after years of effort to improve nutrition and expand physical activity opportunities for New Yorkers, the city experienced a statistically significant drop in rates of childhood obesity. Contrary to national trends, rates of obesity for New York City kindergartners through eighth graders decreased 5.5 percent from 2006 to 2011.
Even so, two out of every five city elementary school children remain overweight or obese and the health consequences are dire, ranging from hypertension to high cholesterol to Type II diabetes. Obese children and adolescents also are more likely to become obese adults, according to studies.
As part of the Mayor’s Obesity Task Force, the city is committed to expanding the salad bars already installed in roughly three-fourths of the city’s 1,200 school buildings to all of the public schools by 2015. The Mayor’s Fund to Advance New York City partnered with the DOE to help provide lower-height, accessible salad bar units in targeted elementary schools throughout the city. The Whole Foods donation of 57 salad bars specifically for elementary schools is through Whole Kids Foundation, a Whole Foods Market foundation dedicated to improving childhood nutrition through increased access to healthy foods.
Past private donors to the Salad Bar Initiative include Agnes Gund and the Joyce and Irving Goldman Family Foundation. The city’s recent budget adoption includes funding to provide salad bars for all schools that can support one.
In addition to expanding the availability of salad bars, the city is ramping up the installation of water jets, which make cold, fresh tap water easily available to students in schools. Water jets are currently in more than 350 city school cafeterias and the city is aiming to add an additional 700 new water jets in schools to reach the vast majority of city students.
Through the Obesity Task Force, the city also expanded its support for schools gardens as well as its School Wellness Council Grant program, which allocate mini-grants to schools to create wellness policies and provides technical assistance.
To learn more about the Citywide School Gardens Initiative, which was founded by GrowNYC and the Mayor’s Fund, contact the Mayor’s Fund at www.nyc.gov.
