Mpls Schools To Offer Fresh & Locally Grown Foods

MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. (WCCO) - Minneapolis Schools are joining the growing list of districts that are reinventing lunch time.

The Farm-to-School Program aims at teaching kids how to make healthy eating choices.

The district will shift away from serving processed foods, and will instead offer fresh and locally grown ones.

"Typically what we've seen nationally, is over the last 50 years, those types of producers have had less and less and less involvement with the schools as they moved towards more processed foods. And this is an effort to shift that and make those locally grown products readily available again to our kids," said JoAnne Berkenkamp, from the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy.

Six years ago, only 20 school districts in Minnesota participated in a farm-to-school program. Now, more than 145 districts are involved.