Long Branch's West End School Will Participate in Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Program

For the second year, the West End School in Long Branch will participate in the New Jersey Department of Agriculture's Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Program.

The program will be in place for the 2012-13 school year and is designed to expose students to healthy foods and increase the amount of fruits and vegetables they eat and improve their diets, according to a release from the New Jersey Department of Agriculture. The school will provide fresh produce to students during the day along with nutrition education.

According to the release, some of the criteria used in making the selections included: elementary schools with 50 percent or more of their students eligible for free or reduced price meals; schools that planned to purchase locally grown fruits and vegetables as much as possible.

The program will expand this year and the number of schools participating will increase from 143 in 16 counties last school year to 155 schools in 18 counties starting in September.  Almost 76,000 New Jersey school students will benefit from the program.

“The Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Program has been extremely successful in New Jersey,” New Jersey Secretary of Agriculture Douglas H. Fisher said in a release.  “The program has changed the school environment for the better, with children at one school we visited referring to the fresh produce as ‘treats.’  It is a hands-on way of teaching students about good nutrition and creating good food habits that will last them a lifetime.”  

The United States Department of Agriculture has allocated $3,887,073 for New Jersey’s Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Program.