New America Media, News Report, Viji Sundaram, Posted:

Last week, 15 school districts across California began serving their students school lunches made from foods grown in California and prepared freshly just for them.

This means that the more than 190 million school meals served each year in those districts will from now on be made from scratch.

“We are going beyond the Healthy Hunger-Free Kids Act,” said Jennifer LeBarre, executive director of the Oakland Unified School District’s (OUSD) Nutrition Services. President Obama signed it into law by in 2010 and it was championed by his wife, Michelle Obama.

Actually, OUSD rolled out the “California Thursdays” school lunch program one year ago, and its success encouraged other school districts to emulate it. Aside from such large urban school districts as Los Angeles, Oakland, Riverside and San Diego, California Thursdays has also begun in rural school districts such as Alvord, Hemet and Coachella.

via 15 California School Districts Begin Serving Locally Grown Foods to Students – New America Media.