By L.J.Gambone
Apple Valley Review
Aiming to help children live healthier lives through proper eating, Gold Star Foods began distributing nutritious foods to K-12 schools in 1978. Over the years, it has become a leader in nutritional food distribution among schools in the Southwest, including many right here in the High Desert.
According to Sean Leer, CEO of Gold Star Foods, his organization is currently collaborating with school cafeterias, food growers, manufacturers and supply chains through the government’s Health, Hunger-Free Kids Act. Leer said the act changes the way schools do food in an effort to ensure healthy meals are served to students every day.
“School meals are getting a lot more attention these days and for good reason,” said Leer. “It’s no longer about serving mushy vegetables, overcooked meat and cardboard bread.
“And with the popularity of Trader Joe’s, Whole Foods and other health food chains, there’s clearly a big drive among Americans to make more wholesome food choices. It’s Gold Star’s vision to be a model for that.”
According to Stephanie Ewing, vice president of Gold Star Foods, students in the United States receive about 35 percent of their daily calories at school. Taking that into consideration, Ewing says it’s extremely important that the foods they are given are packed with vitamins, minerals and other health-promoting substances.
“A lot of people mistakenly think that kids are being served substandard foods at school,” said Ewing. “But this is definitely not true when it comes to the schools we distribute to. Students get the freshest and most nutritious foods available.
“Something really great that has resulted from that is that many of the kids encourage their parents to buy more fruits and vegetables when they go shopping at the grocery store. We love to see that and are very proud of the fact we are inspiring children and their families to maintain a healthy well-balanced diet.”
Leer said that serving fresh, locally sourced meals to students not only helps protect the natural environment but also minimizes wasteful packaging and shortens shipping distances and costs.
“Three-quarters of all Gold Star Foods are manufactured or grown within a 250-mile radius of our company’s headquarters in Ontario,” said Leer. “We strive to bring our students the best California’s growers have to offer.”
Gold Star Foods started in 1966 under the name Gold Star Meat Company. It distributed primarily to Los Angeles-area coffee shops until it changed hands in 1978. The new owners changed their focus from restaurant distribution to servicing Southern California school districts.
To better reflect its vision, the company changed its name to Gold Star Foods in 1983. Over the years, its customer base has grown to more than 300 school districts in California, Arizona and Nevada.
Gold Star Foods has been recognized by United States Department of Agriculture and the American School Food Service Association as one of the top food service distributors to school districts in the nation.
“We’ve seen a paradigm shift in how schools do food,” said Leer. “From produce and grains to meats and poultry, products are strategically sourced to ensure that schools are receiving foods from operations that are, sustainable, locally grown and responsible.”
For more information, visit www.goldstarfoods.com.