The Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) announced that 25 schools statewide will receive more than $250,000 to buy additional fresh fruits and vegetables for students during the 2008-2009 school year. The federally funded Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Program (FFVP) is designed to increase the consumption of fresh fruit and vegetables by students.
“One of the most important lessons we can teach our students is the importance of a healthy lifestyle, including good nutrition and plenty of exercise,” said State Superintendent of Education Christopher A. Koch. “This program can have a significant, lifelong impact on our students.”
The federal program provides all students in participating schools access to a variety of free fresh fruits and vegetables throughout the school day. It allows schools to make available the additional produce anytime during the regular school day – both inside and outside the cafeteria. The idea is to expose students to lifelong healthy eating habits. For example, schools can incorporate nutrition education into numerous daily classroom activities such as math, health, geography and science, by developing lesson plans involving fruits and vegetables.
According to the Fruits and Vegetables – More Matters, a public health initiative sponsored by Produce for Better Health Foundation (PBH) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), over half of all elementary students nationwide eat no fruit on any given day and one-quarter of all vegetables eaten by elementary students are french fries. The national initiative encourages children and adults alike to eat more fresh fruits and vegetables. The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) recommends children eat at least one and a half cups of fruits and two and a half cups of vegetables everyday.
The USDA first piloted the program in 2002 and it was recently expanded to include
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