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IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 31, 2019
www.nj.gov/agriculture     
PO Box 330
Trenton, New Jersey 08625-0330                     

Contact:
Jeff Wolfe
P: (609) 633-2954
C: (609) 433-1785
E: jeff.wolfe@ag.nj.gov  

Low Income Students To Benefit From Healthy Snacks

(TRENTON) – As part of the New Jersey Department of Agriculture’s continuing efforts to improve nutritional opportunities for school children, New Jersey Secretary of Agriculture Douglas H. Fisher today announced 157 New Jersey schools are participating in the 2019-2020 school year’s Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Program (FFVP).

The United States Department of Agriculture has allocated $4,466,443 to New Jersey for this school year’s Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Program, to provide fresh produce to more than 79,000 students in 14 counties during the school day. The students also will receive nutrition education.

The goal of the program is to introduce children to healthy foods, increase their fruit and vegetable consumption, and encourage improved lifelong dietary habits.

“The Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Program creates a great amount of enthusiasm for students to try new offerings to further develop healthy eating habits that will benefit them long into the future,” Secretary Fisher said.

Additional funds will be allocated to schools for connecting their FFVP with the Farm to School Program. The schools must provide Jersey Fresh produce a minimum of two days each month from September to November and from April to June and must verify where the produce was grown. Seventy-nine percent of the 157 schools have agreed to link their FFVP and Farm to School Program.

Some of the criteria used in selecting the schools to participate in FFVP include: Elementary schools with 50 percent or more of their students eligible for free or reduced-price meals; schools that planned to purchase locally grown fruits and vegetables as much as possible; all students having access to the produce offered; and plans to partner with outside organizations to enhance nutrition education.

Click here to see which schools are participating in the Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Program for the 2019-2020 school year.

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To learn more about the New Jersey Department of Agriculture, find us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/NJDeptofAgriculture and www.facebook.com/JerseyFreshOfficial or Twitter @NJDA and @JerseyFreshNJDA.