NC’s Farm to School Porgram Exceeds $1M Mark

For the first time in it's 15-year history, the NC Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services' Farm to School Porgram broke the $1million sales markk during the 2011-12 school year.  NCDA's Andrea Ashby:

 “We were pretty close to that figure last year, but didn’t quite get there, so this year we did pass that milestone, we had $1.2 million in sales, which is great not only for the farmers of our state that benefitted from the program, but it also means that there’s a whole of produce that goes into the school systems. So we’ve got a lot of kids that get fresh fruits and vegetables, which makes it a win/win for this program.”

Nearly 1,600 schools participated in the Farm to School program serving more than 1 million students.  Among the biggest sellers were apple slices, strawberries and blueberries.

School Systems Largely Suspend Orders of LFTB
 

Most of the states participating in the National School Lunch Program have responded to national media attention by leaving the product known as lean finely textured beef off next year’s lunch menu.
 

The USDA decided to offer ground beef without the filler produced by Beef Products Inc. after public concern escalated this spring LFTB was included in school ground beef orders for decades.
 

SC Acquires Wildfire Fighting Equipment
 

South Carolina forestry officials are showing off new wildfire-fighting equipment that keeps firefighters safer while allowing them to get closer to the flames.
 

The agency displayed is new closed-cab fire suppression tractor Wednesday at the Statehouse, next to a 1996 model. Ten of the new units arrived at the Forestry Commission this week that were bought with $3 million given to the agency in the current budget.

Another Retailer Pushing for Sow Housing Changes
 

Kroger- the second-largest supermarket system in the US is encouraging it’s pork suppliers to accelerate the transition to stall-free housing for pregnant sows. Wayne Pacelle – President and CEO of the Humane Society of the United States says Kroger has taken an important step for animal welfare in declaring that the pork industry must find an exit strategy for its use of gestation crates.

Protein Too Expensive
 

A quarter of Americans believes that proteins are too expensive to consume as much as they would like. This, according to the 2012 Food & Health Survey: Consumer Attitudes Toward Food Safety, Nutrition & Health, commissioner by the International Food Information Council Foundation. Although respondents cited the price of proteins in their decision-making, 80 percent said that they believe proteins are part of a balanced diet.

More consumers try to eat protein during an evening meal than during other meals; however 52 percent said they simply try to get enough protein over the course of a day rather than focus on specific meals.
 

Additionally, half of consumers report that they look at the ingredients list and nutritional information on food labels, and more than half – 54 percent reported that they would rather just enjoy their food than worry too much about what’s in it.