September 5, 2024 Washington, D.C. – International Fresh Produce Association (IFPA) BB #:378962 and The Foundation for Fresh Produce BB #:157162 have announced a partnership with Kids Eat in Color to distribute produce-focused educational posters to pediatric facing healthcare providers across the country.
Kids Eat in Color provides evidence-based strategies and information on child nutrition and feeding. In addition to courses and community resources, they also have a popular social media community to amplify their efforts.
With over 2 million Instagram followers, Kids Eat in Color founder and registered dietitian, Jennifer Anderson, is an authoritative resource in helping families from first bite of solid food through elementary-aged nutrition needs.
“I am thrilled to be partnering with the International Fresh Produce Association to make the “How to talk about Fruits and Veggies” poster available in pediatrician offices across the country,” said Anderson. “By providing information about what fruits and veggies do in our bodies, we can help kids learn about their health in a way that protects their relationship with food and their body!”
The poster, which features age-appropriate ways to talk with children about fruits and vegetables, will be co-branded with Kids Eat in Color and The Foundation for Fresh Produce’s Have A Plant® logo, directing pediatric-facing providers and families to fruitsandveggies.org recipes and resources.
IFPA will fund and facilitate the distribution of posters to healthcare offices. Kids Eat in Color® announced this partnership and linked to the request page on their social media channels last week.
Since the posting, the initiative has been very popular with more than 3500 posters requested from over 570 different providers in 45 US states and 8 countries. The goal to provide direct education to pediatricians and the families they serve to help build healthy habits from an early age is linked to IFPA’s Industry Commitments established during the White House Conference on Hunger, Nutrition and Health. One of these commitments was to produce and disseminate culturally informed, consumer-friendly resources to improve the public’s nutrition literacy.
“It’s well-known that establishing healthful eating patterns at an early age defines consumers’ habits into their adulthoods,” said CEO of IFPA and The Foundation Cathy Burns. “While we are faced with mounting economic and human costs of diet-related disease, it’s also known that a diet rich in fruits and vegetables is one of the simplest ways to ensure physical well-being. We are committed to supporting the many pathways to grow produce consumption and are thrilled to partner with Jennifer’s team at Kids Eat in Color® , who are doing incredible work helping families establish healthy habits around eating fresh fruits and vegetables.”
As part of its White House Conference commitments, IFPA has also created educational materials on Produce Prescriptions for medical students, practitioners and patients, and, with The Foundation, has created a K-12 school breakfast resource that features fruit- and veggie-forward recipes to help school foodservice operators implement USDA’s proposed meal pattern updates.
The posters can be requested by pediatric healthcare providers from IFPA’s website. Those interested can also find more information about IFPA progress towards the Produce Industry White House Commitments.
About the International Fresh Produce Association (IFPA)
The International Fresh Produce Association (IFPA)?is the largest and most diverse international association serving the entire fresh produce and floral supply chain and the only to seamlessly integrate world-facing advocacy and industry-facing support. We exist to bring the industry together to create a vibrant future for all. We grow our member’s prosperity by conducting advocacy; connecting people and ideas; and offering guidance that allows us all to?take action?with purpose and confidence.
IFPA Contact: Ashley Sempowski, ASempowski@freshproduce.com +1 (202) 303-3406
Kids Eat in Color Contact: Sasha Larkin, sasha@kidseatincolor.com
