ND Department of Agriculture Press Releases

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE MARCH 11, 2008

SCHOOL LUNCHES FEATURE NORTH DAKOTA PRODUCTS

MANDAN – Hundreds of school lunchrooms around the state featured North Dakota wheat, beef, durum, beans, sunflowers, pork and other commodities on their menus Tuesday – the seventh annual Pride of Dakota School Lunch Day.

“Nearly 70,000 North Dakota young people are eating North Dakota products for lunch today,” said Agriculture Commissioner Roger Johnson, as he shared the meal with students at Roosevelt Elementary School in Mandan. “This is going on all across the state – 276 schools in all.”

Johnson said Pride of Dakota School Lunch Day has three target audiences.

“First, there’s the kids – we want them to understand where their food comes from, and how to make good food choices,” he said. “Second are the school administrators and school lunch directors; we want them to know that North Dakota companies can supply many of their menu needs. And finally, we want North Dakota companies to know that school lunch programs are an important market for their products.”

The North Dakota Department of Agriculture supplied participating schools with sample menus and materials and ideas for classroom activities, such as bread making in a bag, a food pyramid quiz and an agricultural trivia game. The sample menus were developed by Deb Egeland, a child nutrition specialist with the North Dakota Department of Public Instruction.

The classroom activities and a sample menu can be found on the Pride of Dakota website at www.prideofdakota.nd.gov/Programs/podschoollunchday.htm.

Authorized by the Legislature and administered by the North Dakota Department of Agriculture, the Pride of Dakota program fosters the development and growth of small businesses and especially businesses that are farm-based or rely on agricultural commodities. Pride of Dakota member companies can participate in cooperative promotion and marketing events; receive representation at local, state, regional, national, and international trade shows and educational opportunities. More than 430 companies are Pride of Dakota members.

-30-

MEDIA: For more information, please call Ted Quanrud at (701) 328-2233 or tquanrud@nd.gov or Patrice Lahlum at (701) 239-7210 or plahlum@nd.gov.