RICHMOND, Va. -- Children's 5 a Day for Better Health store tours have been added to the list of nutrition programs at Ukrop's here.
Though Ukrop's has been running 5 a Day activities for children for six years, this is the first school year that youngsters have been invited into stores, according to Jeanine Sherry, Ukrop's corporate nutritionist and president of NewWellness, a nutrition consulting firm, also here.
The program, available to third graders, has been a tremendous success. One hundred tours, each of which caters to about 25 students, have already been booked.
The one-hour tours, which are conducted in 12 Ukrop's units, educate youngsters about how they can get five servings of fruits and vegetables each day. Tours start out in produce and then continue into Center Store.
Among the Center Store products that are showcased are dried fruit, vegetable and other juices, and canned and frozen fruits and vegetables.
One of the biggest lessons the students -- and their parents and teachers -- learn is that not all juices are created equal, said Sherry.
"Many parents who accompany the youngsters on the trip have no idea that some juices are 100% juice and others are only 10%," she said.
Youngsters are also surprised to learn that frozen vegetables can be just as nutritious, and sometimes more nutritious than fresh.
Ukrop's also contracts with NewWellness to provide a wide variety of services through its "Appetite for Health" program.
