Starting Tuesday, October 22, snack time at Ellen Hopkins Elementary School will look different. Students at the school will receive fresh fruits and vegetables as part of the United States Department of Agriculture’s Fresh Fruits and Vegetables Program (FFVP).
For the 2024-25 school year, the Minnesota Department of Education selected Ellen Hopkins to participate in the program. The state selected the school via a competitive grant process.
This program provides a fresh fruit or vegetable snack for students in each classroom. Each snack is accompanied by a nutrition education lesson.
“The snacks vary, so our classrooms might get apple slices one day, carrot sticks the next day and then the next day something they’ve never seen before, like fresh rutabagas,” explained Ellen Hopkins principal Carla Smith. “Studies have shown that kids will have to see a food eight or more times before they’ll try it and then try it even more than that before they accept it as part of their diet. So it’s important that, between FFVP and the great salad bar we have at Ellen Hopkins, we are helping our kids see these fresh, healthy choices throughout the week.”
FFVP encourages students to enjoy the fruits and vegetables “as they are,” meaning that the produce is presented in a way that makes each snack easily identifiable. This allows the children to become more familiar with the fruits and vegetables they take a liking to.
The Minnesota Department of Education calls FFVP “an effective and creative way to introduce fresh fruits and vegetables as healthy snack options.” According to the USDA website, FFVP “is an important tool in our efforts to combat childhood obesity. The program has been successful in introducing elementary school children to a variety of produce that they otherwise might not have the opportunity to sample.”
Ellen Hopkins is the second school in the district to launch the Fresh Fruits and Vegetables Program. Robert Asp Elementary piloted FFVP in October 2023.
To learn more about the Fresh Fruits and Vegetables Program, visit the Minnesota Department of Education’s Food and Nutrition Services website.