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Sen. Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., and Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack made an appearance at a Sparta, Mich., apple farm on Aug. 23. They spoke with local growers and media about the role of agriculture in providing food security in the United States and the upcoming fight over the Farm Bill and immigration reform.

As students return to school, the options they have for healthy eating have improved thanks to the efforts of the produce industry and initiatives at USDA. The passage of the Hunger-Free Kids Act last year has helped reform the nutritional quality of school meals, according to USDA.

"The Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act is a great win for our kids and the health of our nation," said Kevin Concannon, under secretary of USDA. "I want to recognize the hundreds of schools that have already made great progress toward achieving school meals reforms - and can serve as models for others seeking to make improvements. By fueling our nation's children with the healthiest foods possible while at school, we can reinforce the healthy lifestyles that many parents are already teaching their children at home, which will put them in a position to thrive, grow and ultimately reach their full potential."

One of the successes of the initiative was the HealthierUS School Challenge (HUSSC), which was First Lady Michelle Obama's goal of 1,250 schools expanding nutrition and physical activity opportunities. USDA announced last month that schools nationwide had reached that goal for the 2011 school year. HUSSC is part of the first lady's Let's Move! initiative, and participating schools have adopted USDA food standards for food, will provided nutrition education and expand physical activities.

To coincide with reaching the goal of 1,250 schools, USDA has launched the Healthy Access Locator, a web resource that allows the public to search for HUSSC award-winning schools. HUSSC awards can be searched by geography, award type and date of award.

In addition to the HUSSC goals, USDA has accomplished other school programs, including:

• USDA worked closely with states to expand the availability of afterschool meals across the nation to through the Child and Adult Care Food Program. USDA estimated this expansion could provide supper to an additional 140,000 kids in low-income areas.
  
  
• Issued guidance and provided technical assistance to states to ensure that more than 400,000 children in foster care are certified to receive free meals in all USDA child nutrition programs.
  
  
• Provided guidance, technical assistance and grant funding to states to improve their direct certification systems to help more children already receiving benefits from SNAP, TANF and FDPIR gain access to free school meals without the need for completing another eligibility form.
  
  
• Implemented the new "community eligibility" approach to reimburse schools for meals without the need for paper applications in Illinois, Kentucky and Tennessee.
  
  
• Implemented a provision that helps more family day care home providers receive the maximum meal reimbursement based on the location of their family day care business rather than an income eligibility application.
  
  
• Provided guidance for schools on the HHKFA provision requiring schools to conduct outreach on the availability of the School Breakfast Program. Research has shown that starting the day with a nutritious breakfast helps students stay alert and perform better in school.

In addition, USDA will continue to work with schools on improving the nutritional quality of food sold to children through six major components supported by the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act:

• Updated nutrition standards for school meals based on expert recommendations from the Institute of Medicine. USDA is reviewing over 132,000 comments from schools, States, parents and others on a proposed rule in order to complete a final rule.
  
  
• Science-based standards for all foods sold in school. These first national standards will ensure that foods and beverages sold in vending machines and other venues on school campuses contribute to a healthy diet.
  
  
• Increased funding for schools. The act made the first real increase in school meal payments in 30 years - tied to strong performance in serving improved meals. The criteria to earn the increase will be ready when updated standards go into effect.
  
  
• Common-sense standards for revenue provided to school food authorities from non-Federal sources, to ensure that these revenues keep pace with the Federal commitment to healthy school meals and properly align with costs.
  
  
• Training and technical assistance to help schools achieve and monitor compliance. We are planning new training strategies to accompany the new nutrition standards.
  
  
• Healthy offerings through the USDA Foods program. USDA Foods are a critical part of the National School Lunch Program, constituting approximately 15 percent to 20 percent of the school lunch plate. Guided by the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, USDA has made sweeping changes in the nutritional quality of these foods to further reduce fat, sodium, and added sugars. The Act requires the Department to purchase a wide variety of USDA Foods that support healthy meals and develop model specifications for foods purchased and served in the National School Lunch Program.
  
  

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DigitScans, Palo Alto, Calif., is launching a new process known as GreenScans, a mobile app that would allow produce companies to integrate marketing initiatives using existing product barcodes. The process can be used with both bulk and packaged items. GreenScans would give a company the ability to be "front and center" with customer through "real-time" interaction.

DigitScans is the brainchild of technology entrepreneur George Pierce, who has 10 years in supply chain logistics and technology start-up experience. Co-founding owners are Juanita Gaglio, a 20-year marketing produce veteran, and Jim Stein, who brings 20 years of software development experience. The produce app has been in development for three years and is the first produce app made available to consumers at no cost.

Some of the information that could appear on consumers', smartphone screens includes: the company's website, consumer newsletter, recipes, nutrient content and/or be directed to the company's Facebook page or other social media site. Interaction between the consumer and the company will be in real time as the consumer is prompted to indicate their satisfaction of the product or "share" information with their friends. The produce app will facilitate consumer contests by downloading e-coupons directly to the smartphone or tablet device.

This produce app arrives at a time when technology and produce converge. Consumers are driving marketing initiatives by becoming more savvy — armed with product information. One consulting company that has researched consumer's purchasing trends, Capgemini, released a "2020 Future Value Chain Report" stating, "Consumers' lives are changing due to the technologies they are using at home, at work and in stores and on the go — and so is their shopping and consumption behavior." With the proliferation of smartphones, a report published by Capgemini and GS1 — Beyond The Label, states that 30 percent to 40 percent of smartphone owners have downloaded an app with the ability to read barcodes, the use of which increased by 1,600 percent in 2010.

DigitScans is currently in exploratory discussions with a number of produce companies and retailers. The process integrates the entire supply chain beginning with information on source of product to inventory control and tighter collaboration between retailer and supplier.

For more information, visit www.digitscans.com or email Juanita Gaglio at Juanita@digitscans.com.