United's campaign for A Salad Bar in Every School, in collaboration with The Vollrath Company and Cambro Manufacturing Company, will donate two salad bars to schools in Pahrump, Nev., next week. The salad bars will be donated on Wednesday, April 21, during a ceremony at United Fresh 2010, the association’s annual convention and expo. The salad bars will be donated to Nye County School District’s J.G. Johnson Elementary School and Manse Elementary School. .

"Salad bars are such a simple and effective way to increase children’s intake of fresh, healthy fruits and vegetables," said Steffanie Smith, CEO of Hermiston, Ore.-based River Point Farms and incoming United Fresh chairman. "The produce industry is uniting behind the Salad Bar in Every School campaign, so it is only appropriate to have an industry gathering like United Fresh 2010 as a backdrop for this donation. Thanks to the generosity of the Vollrath Company and Cambro Manufacturing Company, the campaign is able to make this donation, and we look forward to more donations to schools in other communities in the coming months."

The donations are made possible by the manufacturers of the salad bars, The Vollrath Company, headquartered in Sheboygan, Wis., and the Cambro Manufacturing Company of Huntington Beach, Calif.

The campaign selected Nye County School District to receive the salad bars because of the district’s commitment to improving child nutrition and increasing children's consumption of fresh fruits and vegetables.

"Nye County has wanted salad bars for their school cafeterias for several years," said United Fresh Vice President of Nutrition and Health Dr. Lorelei DiSogra. "They feel strongly that salad bars will offer their students a daily variety of fruits and vegetables with their lunch and will increase consumption."

Both J.G. Johnson Elementary and Manse Elementary serve more than 450 students and have participated in the Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Snack Program (FFVP) for the last two years, providing each student with a fresh fruit or vegetable snack for free every day at school.

"Both salad bars and the Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Snack Program are evidence-based strategies to increase children's consumption of fruits and vegetables," added DiSogra.

Launched in February 2010, the Salad Bar in Every School campaign relies on the produce industry and allied partners to donate salad bars to schools who want them for use in increasing children’s fruit and vegetable consumption.

"It is important for students to have unfettered access to fresh and healthy fruits and vegetables," said United Fresh President and CEO Tom Stenzel. "United Fresh has a long track record of success increasing the availability of fresh fruits and vegetables for children. Alongside the $1 billion federal commitment to national expansion of the Fresh Fruit and Vegetable School Snack Program and the launch of more than $700 million annually in fruit and vegetable vouchers for moms and children in the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC), the Salad Bar in Every School campaign truly has the produce industry poised to make a difference."

Joining United Fresh for the event will be representatives from the Nevada Department of Education, Nye County School District and produce industry leaders. Also on hand for the donation will be officials from the New York City Department of Education, which serves more than 1 million school children in 1600 schools and recently purchased 99 salad bars with funds from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

"Research shows that children significantly increase their consumption of fruits and vegetables when given a variety of choices in a school fruit and vegetable salad bar," said DiSogra. "Children try new items, incorporate greater variety into their diets and increase their daily consumption of fruits and vegetables. Increased daily access to a variety of fresh produce items also provides a personal experience about choices that can shape behavior far beyond the school lunch line. Children learn to make decisions that carry over outside of school, providing a platform for a lifetime of healthy snack and meal choices."

More information on the initiative can be found here.