Shortly before Congress adjourned for the holiday season, Representatives Sam Farr (D-CA) and Adam Putnam (R-FL) introduced the Children's Fruit and Vegetable Act of 2009 (H.R. 4333).  Now, it's critical to build broad bipartisan congressional support for this bill. Please contact your member of Congress and ask them to co-sponsor H.R. 4333, the Children's Fruit and Vegetable Act of 2009.

This bill will create a national salad bar policy and increase the amount and variety of fresh fruits and vegetables in school meals --- improving children's health and providing new sales opportunities for years to come.  Imagine if 31 million students in 100,000 schools nation-wide had access to a salad bar in their school cafeteria every day!   

United Fresh Produce Association has collaborated with Congressmen Farr and Putnam for the last year to develop this bill and we urge our members and partners to help us build support for H.R. 4333 by contacting their member of Congress and asking them to co-sponsor the legislation.  

"We've made this easy. In two minutes, you can send a letter directly to your member of Congress. Just fill in your zip code, name and address," said United's Vice President of Nutrition and Health Dr. Lorelei DiSogra.   "Our goal is to have provisions of HR 4333 included in the Child Nutrition Act, which will be reauthorized by Congress early in 2010. But, in order to have our fruit and vegetable priorities noticed, we need significant Congressional support."

HR 4333 currently has 18 co-sponsors in the U.S. House of Representatives. For more information, contact United Policy and Grassroots Coordinator Andrew Marshall at 202-303-3400 ext. 407.