Dole, Caito Foods and Martin's Supermarkets Donate Salad Bars to School

Committed to increasing healthier options for students, Dole Food Company, grocery retailer Martin’s Supermarkets and wholesale foods supplier Caito Foods have partnered to donate salad bars to five public schools in Indiana. These self-serve produce bars will feature a wide array of fresh fruits and vegetables to boost new choices for students at breakfast and lunch. “Since one in three Midwest children, ages 9 to 11, is at risk or already overweight, we need to look at whole new ways to encourage healthier eating,” says Bil Goldfield, Dole’s director of corporate communications. “One of Dole’s goals is to start the nutrition conversation, and offer tangible healthy alternatives, as early in childhood as possible. By offering permanent salad bars stocked with fresh fruit and vegetables, we are hopefully establishing healthier eating habits that will last a lifetime.” The school districts receiving the new salad bars include two salad bars at Elkhart Community Schools (Elkhart, Ind.), one salad bar at Fairfield Community Schools (Goshen, Ind.) and two salad bars at Southwest School Corp (Sullivan, Ind.). “This new salad bar supports our commitment to health education,” says West Side Middle School principal Kristie Stutsman. “It enables us to provide more fresh fruit and vegetables so West Side students can make fresh meal choices every day.” “Caito Foods is pleased to partner with Dole and Martin’s Supermarkets and United Fresh to improve students’ access to fresh produce,” says Bob Kirch, president of the Indianapolis, Ind.-based wholesale food provider. “We’re proud to be able to play a role in keeping these salad bars stocked with fresh, high-quality fruits and vegetables, and to start impacting behaviors that could ultimately change lives.” “Martin’s is known as a Midwest leader in high-quality fresh produce – so it’s only fitting that we help make today’s salad bars possible,” says Martin’s Supermarkets director of produce & floral Ed Osowski. “Helping students and their parents discover the joys of new recipes featuring fresh fruits and vegetables aligns perfectly with the Martin’s mission.” The salad bars were arranged through a partnership with the United Fresh Foundation to support the organization’s Let's Move Salad Bars to Schools 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 Schools has facilitated the donation of salad bars to more than 3,500 schools, benefitting nearly 2 million students every day. Nationwide, salad bars are changing school food environments and helping students make the healthy choice, the easy choice.