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Lunch looked a little different for students in Hillsborough County Public Schools Thursday: students were served a lunch completely sourced from Florida growers, producers, and manufacturers.
Students filled the cafeteria of Alafia Elementary School for a special lunch.
It’s the first time the Hillsborough County school district is offering a menu that includes all foods sourced from Florida.
This is a product of the Hillsborough County Public School’s Farm to School Coalition. Arianne Corbett is the nutritionist for the county’s schools.
“We have a chicken empanada that came from a company in Hialeah, Florida. We have strawberries from right here in Plant City, that’s from Wish Farms. We have corn that’s from Pahokee, Florida, R.C. Hatton farms, they’re a wonderful partner of ours. And then our dairy, we provide every day, and that’s M&B Dairy from right here in Temple Terrace.”
Corbett says The Farm to School Coalition has made progress. She says that almost half of the items presented to kids for lunch regularly are from Florida, up from less than 20% last year.
“School meals are a little bit misunderstood, but they are the best place for kids to experience fruits and vegetables. Every meal that we serve comes with a fruit or a vegetable.”
Over a school year, the county serves around 32 million meals.
