USDA Blog

We don’t often associate rock music with school nutrition, but perhaps that’s changed after a fun-filled, rollicking event I attended at Golfview Elementary in Carpentersville, Illinois.

The Fruit and Vegetable Programs of USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) is intensifying its educational outreach campaign to the industry and consumers. Customers regularly refer to the Fruit and Vegetable Programs as the “best-kept secret in the produce business” because valuable resources...

Cross posted from the Let's Move! blog: I had the distinct pleasure to join the White House Assistant Chef and Senior Policy Advisor for Healthy Food Initiative Sam Kass, to participate in a unique Chefs Move to Schools event at Edgewater High School Auditorium, Orlando, Fla., in celebration of...

Cross posted from the Let's Move blog: It has been one year since First Lady Michelle Obama kicked off her Let’s Move! initiative with the goal to solve the problem of childhood obesity within a generation. The anniversary calls for a time to reflect on its vast contributions, but to also continue...

Cross posted from the Let's Move! blog: The two most direct ways to get involved in the Summer Food Service Program in your community are to either become a sponsor or a feeding site. What’s the difference you may ask? Being a sponsor means acting as the organizer for Summer Food Service sites...

Last week, Secretary Vilsack traveled to Dallas, Texas, home of Superbowl XLV, to meet with officials from the public and private sectors to sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) outlining a commitment to enacting healthy solutions to childhood obesity under Fuel Up to Play 60 .This partnership...

On January 24, 2011, a wintry day in Chicago, 20,000 high school students in the Chicago Public Schools were treated to a prize-winning, delicious and healthy school lunch created by their fellow students. Topping the menu was Afro-Caribe Plancha (Cuban turkey, black beans, provolone cheese and...

Each summer, 22.3 million students are at risk of going hungry when the school year ends and school lunches are no longer available. For many children, school meals are the only complete and nutritious meals they eat, and in the summer they go without. The Summer Food Service Program (SFSP) can help...

Recently, an interesting letter came across my desk. The letter was from an Ohio school nurse who wanted USDA to know that students at E. J. Brown Elementary School in Dayton, Ohio, LOVE their USDA-funded Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Program (FFVP), now in its second year. And that makes E.J. Brown’s...

This post is part of the Science Tuesday feature series on the USDA blog. Check back each week as we showcase stories and news from USDA’s rich science and research portfolio. It’s an all-too-familiar truism: Americans don’t eat enough fruits and vegetables. Last week, USDA unveiled the 2010 Dietary...