If it has done nothing else, First Lady Michelle Obama’s “Let’s Move” initiative to combat childhood obesity has spurred the Department of the Interior to issue new healthy food guidelines for national parks. As well, the new guidelines suggest parks use locally grown fruits and vegetables.
The Hill’s Ben Goad filed this report at his Regulation Blog on June 5:
Organic watercress and black bean sliders will soon sit beside hot dogs, ice cream and other less healthy fare at concession stands in national parks around the country, under a new set of standards unveiled on June 5.
The new guidelines requiring healthier choice at more than 250 food and beverage operations at national parks will be integrated into all new concessions contracts and applied on a voluntary basis to existing contracts, according to the National Park Service.
Interior Secretary Sally Jewell: ‘It’s not just healthy food it’s, where possible, local food.’
The agency, however, was careful to note that it does not intend to take away tourists beloved sodas or cheese burgers, but is rather promising healthy alternatives for the sight-seeing public.
The new policy also promotes the use of locally grown fruits and veggies in parks, where roughly 23 million Americans buy meals every year,
“It’s not just healthy food it’s, where possible, local food. And its giving our children good examples of what they can eat,” Interior Secretary Sally Jewell said during remarks on June 5 near a food kiosk in the shadow of the Lincoln Memorial. “This is part of the President’s commitment to health and wellbeing.”
Moments later Jewell sipped strawberry rhubarb gazpacho and sampled a breast of free range chicken served with sweet potato cake and fennel salad.
The program includes incentives and “recognition opportunities” for concession companies that go above and beyond the new standards.
Firms with contracts at some of the nation’s most visited national parks said they are on board with the plan, and insist they are already offering healthy options.
Delaware North Parks & Resorts, for example, touted its grocery department at Grand Canyon National Park, which has a selection of more than 1,800 organic or national food options, the company said.
Boulder-based Online Grocer Now Serving Nine States an Abundance of Organic
It’s 5 p.m. on Thursday, milk is running low, and the kids polished off the last of the peanut butter the night before. Working parents everywhere, stuck in traffic, are scrounging for a healthy dinner.
Enter Door to Door Organics, an online organic grocery retailer that delivers fresh, organic groceries at a competitive cost with traditional brick-and-mortar grocers.
The company, which was founded by David Gersenson in 2004 in his 300 square-foot Boulder, Colorado garage, now serves nine states, operating out of five centralized hubs in Colorado, Michigan, Illinois, Pennsylvania and Missouri.
Chad Arnold, founder of Door to Door Organics (photo: Door to Door Organics)
Unlike a CSA, in which subscribers are stuck with whatever a single farm produces, Door to Door Organics customers are able to swap out their selections, add on an array of groceries to the order, and skip an order at anytime. The company also offers a full assemblage of groceries, including dairy products, meat and fish, baked goods, grains, pastas, nut butters, preserves, condiments, oils and vinegars, and coffees and teas. Groceries are sourced from organic farmers and food producers, emphasizing as many local products as possible.
“Our founder started this journey with a simple box of fresh and seasonal organic produce delivered right to our customers’ doorsteps, helping people eat food that was good for their health, community and the environment,” says Andrea Daily, Director of Marketing. “Since then we’ve been steadfast in our mission to empower people to eat good food.” —By Nina Ignaczak
Full story here. Click here to visit the Door to Door Organics website.
Posted on April 23, 2013 in Seedstock.com
