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Latino School a model for nation's health

A lunchroom in California could be a model for a bill in Congress. 

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Rep. Sam Farr, (D-Calif.), is expected to introduce a bill to promote salad bars in schools and it may be due to Hispanic elementary school children. It would also help districts buy equipment and increase the reimbursement rate.

The lunchroom at Jesse Sánchez Elementary School in Salinas, CA, is having an impact on nationwide child nutrition. Of the 494 students at Jesse Sánchez, 491 are Latino, one is Asian and two are black

The salad bars provided at the school and other Salinas area schools are gaining the attention of agriculture groups, healthy food advocates and members of Congress.

The United Fresh Produce Association, which lobbies Congress to include more fruits and vegetables in school lunches, wants to use Jesse Sanchez as a model for the rest of the country.

The group invited Esperanza Zendejas, the superintendent of the school district that includes Jesse Sanchez Elementary, to brief lawmakers and staffers in Washington, D.C., about the benefit of having salad bars in school lunchrooms.

"We believe that if your children learn to reach out for broccoli during lunch they will be reaching for broccoli for the rest of their life," Zendejas said. "Children need to learn from an early age healthy habits."
The UFPA also knows that encouraging salad bars in schools is good for their businesses.

"Thirty million kids eat school lunches in the country. If all those kids got one or two servings of fruits and vegetables, it would be a huge benefit to the industry," said Lorelei DiSogra, vice president for nutrition and health for the UFPA. "Having salad bars in schools is what we call a win-win- win situation. It's a win for kids' health, win for the industry and a win for public health."  

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