Golden Carrot Award Winners Promote Healthy School Lunches

Saint Paul Public Schools nutrition director Jean Ronnei won the grand prize in PCRM’s 2012 Golden Carrot Awards. In the district’s schools, students are encouraged to try daily plant-based entrées. Favorites include Moroccan rice and whole-grain carrot raisin breakfast. The foundation of the innovative and nutritious meals is the food service program’s Healthy Hits Team.

On school menus, vegetarian items are identified with a “Meatless Item” icon. Saint Paul Public Schools also participates in the Farm to School Initiative, which brought more than 165,000 pounds of produce to the schools in 2010. In the cafeteria, posters promote local fruits and vegetables and encourage kids to try vegetarian options.

PCRM established the Golden Carrot Awards in 2004 to honor school lunch programs that promote fresh fruits and vegetables and that offer plenty of vegetarian, low-fat, whole grain, and nondairy options. Three runner-up prizes went to food service professionals in Spartanburg, S.C., San Francisco, and Novato, Calif. The winner received $3,000 and the runners-up received $750.

Learn more a HealthySchoolLunches.org.