Whitsons to Become First Foodservice Provider to Bring Monthly Local Produce to All Its Massachusetts Schools Districts
Islandia, NY (PRWEB) July 27, 2013 -- Whitsons School Nutrition has partnered with the Massachusetts Farm to School Project to bring monthly local produce to all of their 22 school foodservice accounts in the state. Whitsons is the first foodservice contractor to have every one of its accounts in Massachusetts join the Harvest of the Month program.
The Harvest of the Month program promotes a different Massachusetts-grown crop each month in school cafeterias across the state. This campaign aims to increase the students’ consumption of local fruits and vegetables, thus encouraging healthy food choices that will last a lifetime, and to support local farmers. According to Kelly Erwin, Director of the Massachusetts Farm to School Project, “Serving healthy, delicious, locally-grown produce in school meals is good for the health of our children and our local farms. We're excited that Whitsons' full participation in Mass. Farm to School Project's Harvest of the Month program will benefit thousands of students in Massachusetts and help to encourage them to enjoy a variety of fresh, seasonal fruits and vegetables.”
Whitsons has been providing local produce to their school accounts through Greenleaf Cuisine, the provider’s local produce initiative. The main goal of Greenleaf Cuisine is to provide the very best produce the region has to offer, fresh from farm to fork. With this partnership with the Massachusetts Farm to School Project, Whitsons stands at the vanguard of the foodservice industry and confirms their commitment to providing the freshest produce to school children and to supporting local farmers by sourcing produce locally whenever seasonally available.
According to John Gersbeck, Senior Vice President of Operations, “Whitsons is excited to be in the forefront of having all of our Massachusetts accounts signed on to the Harvest of the Month Program. We are especially excited to offer the Harvest of the Month items and marketing materials along with our current Fruit and Veggie of the Month program. This will solidify our goal in trying to enhance the children’s meals with more colorful fruits and vegetables.”
Whitsons Culinary Group provides a wide range of highly customized dining services to public schools, corporations and institutions, with a strong focus on nutritious, high quality menus made from fresh, wholesome ingredients. Whitsons has a long and proud history of excellence and growth since 1979 and currently ranks the 18th largest dining company in the United States (Food Management magazine, September 2012). Whitsons’ scope of expertise and services extends to: emergency dining, residential and healthcare dining, prepared meals, and school dining and services.
Sonia Garrido, Whitsons Culinary Group, http://www.whitsons.com, (631) 424 2700, [email protected]
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