SHIP stories
The Statewide Health Improvement Program
(SHIP) works to improve health through better
nutrition, increased physical activity and
decreased commercial tobacco use and exposure.
Schools are a key area in which SHIP works to
improve health through better nutition. As of June
2011:
• School nutrition staff from 75 percent
of eligible districts throughout the state
have been trained on menu planning and
procurement strategies to serve healthy meals.
Tickling taste buds for
Robbinsdale kids
As many as 14,000 K–12 students and staff in all 14
Robbinsdale Area Schools now have access to what
have been deemed “SHIP Salads.”
The salads are offered as a daily entrée, and have
sold at twice the rate of the salads they replaced,
from 15,625 SHIP salads sold between September
2010 and March 2011 to 30,985 SHIP salads from
September 2011 through April 2012.
“It has really been a combination of things that has
made this such a great success,” said Liliana Tobon
Gomez, M.D., M.P.H., Hennepin County senior health
promotion specialist. “Food service managers and
their teams were trained on how to properly make the
salads and present them in an attractive way so they
would be broadly accepted.”
8/2012
www.health.state.mn.us/divs/oshii
Robbinsdale schools’ SHIP Salad includes a minimum of
three fruits or vegetables in addition to a mix of leafy
greens. If dressing is offered, it doesn’t exceed 2 oz.
per serving, with a low- or no-fat dressing option.
The new salads were extensively marketed throughout
the cafeteria kitchens. Tobon Gomez said the process
has been closely monitored, and ways to improve the
salads have included taste tests with students at four
schools. Moving forward, the school will continue its
efforts to offer students and faculty more fruit and
veggies options.
***
SHIP is working to make the healthy choice the easy
choice in Minnesota. Find out how at
www.health.state.mn.us/ship