School salad bars will take center stage at United Fresh 2010 on Wednesday, April 21, with a keynote address from Eric Goldstein, chief executive officer, and Jorge Collazo, executive chef, for New York City SchoolFood.
Their presentation, "Launching a Lifetime of Healthy Choices: New York City’s Commitment to a Salad Bar in Every School," headlines a series of events at United Fresh 2010 to advance the United Fresh Produce Association’s policy goal to bring salad bars to schools across the country. New York City has made school salad bars a cornerstone of their effort to serve healthier school meals. Recently they purchased salad bars for 99 elementary schools using cafeteria equipment funds provided by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.
"New York City schools are a fantastic example of how salad bars can work in school environments," said Dr. Lorelei DiSogra, vice president of nutrition and health at United Fresh. "Eric and Chef Jorge are demonstrating every day what can be done with salad bars to increase children’s fruit and vegetable consumption and we are very pleased to have them join us at United Fresh 2010."
NYC SchoolFood, the foodservice operation of the New York City Department of Education, is the largest school foodservice provider in the country, serving more than 850,000 students every school day. As CEO of the Office of School Support Services, which oversees NYC SchoolFood, Goldstein leads a staff of 10,000 employees providing meals in 1,600 locations across the city. As a student in New York schools growing up in Queens, Goldstein is now giving back to his community on a mission to serve nutritious and healthy meals.
Collazo – or "Chef Jorge" as he is more commonly referred to in NYC foodie circles – joined NYC SchoolFood in 2004 as its first executive chef. He was previously a chef instructor at the New England Culinary Institute and held earlier executive chef positions with a number of major corporate dining management companies. Chef Jorge and his Culinary Concepts Department work to design new products for school menus that are delicious, cost-effective and reflect NYC SchoolFood’s nutritional goals.
In addition to Wednesday’s Breakfast General Session, Goldstein and Chef Jorge will meet with attendees at the United Fresh Membership Booth at 12:30 p.m. to answer questions and discuss how both schools and the industry can play a part in increasing consumption of fresh fruits and vegetables, and encourage healthier eating habits for kids. Additionally, Goldstein and Chef Jorge will help lead a session for wholesalers at the Wholesaler-Distributor Learning Center at 2:00 p.m. that afternoon.
Increasing produce consumption among children will also be the focus of Thursday’s Nutrition Council Seminar. As one of four seminars hosted by the United Fresh Expert Advisory Councils, the nutrition seminar will focus on how new fruit and vegetable vouchers in the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC) can drive opportunities in retail supermarkets. In addition, Goldstein and Chef Jorge will share their views on overall school foodservice issues and using schools as an incubator of taste preferences and future choices for fresh fruits and vegetables. Dr. DiSogra will moderate this program beginning at 10:15 a.m.
For more information about the United Fresh 2010 convention and expo, please visit www.unitedfresh2010.organd for more on the Salad Bar in Every School campaign, please contact United Fresh Vice President of Business Development Claudia Wenzingat 202-303-3400 ext. 415.
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