During September's Washington Public Policy Conference, United Fresh will feature a salad bar stocked with fresh fruits and vegetables, illustrating to lawmakers United's initiative promoting a national school salad bar policy.

"This is certainly a great opportunity to advance policy that directly affects the health of so many young Americans," said United Fresh Vice President of Nutrition and Health Dr. Lorelei DiSogra. "Placing a salad bar in front of so many lawmakers shows them how salad bars can be an effective tool for increasing produce consumption and promoting healthy eating habits among students."

The salad bar will be featured at Wednesday's Fresh Festival on Capitol Hill in the Cannon House Office Building.

"Research has proven that, when presented with the option of a salad bar, children will increase their intake of fresh and fresh-cut fruits and vegetables," said DiSogra. "We are hoping that by providing the same options to lawmakers in the House, salad bars will become a standard menu offering in every school cafeteria."

Following the public policy conference, United Fresh will donate the equipment to a Washington-area school.

"United is pleased to contribute our salad bar to a local school," said Ray Gilmer, United's vice president of communications. "Working with school officials, we can track the salad bar's impact on students' produce consumption and demonstrate to policymakers the efficacy of the salad bar strategy."

United Fresh looks to build on the success of the Federal Fruit and Vegetable Snack program and kids' love of fruits and vegetables with a salad bar in more than 100,000 schools across the United States.

For more information about the National School Salad Bar Policy, please contact Dr. DiSogra at 202-303-3400 and for more on the Washington Public Policy Conference, please contact Angela Bezon at 202-303-3400 ext. 416.