September 2020: The Produce Moms Podcast Month in Review
Oct 05, 2020
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September 2020: The Produce Moms Podcast Month in Review
Let’s take a look back at September 2020 Podcast Episodes.
The Produce Moms brought you some incredibly educational and life-changing guests during the month of September. Whether you’re a parent concerned about how (or what) your child is being fed going back to school, struggling to keep your home sanitized, COVID-19 and chemical-free, or looking for new and nutritious solutions to bring pleasure, joy and connection to your healthy family, you’ll find answers and insight on each of this month’s episodes.
We met with Adam Russo, Director of School Food and Nutrition Services at Prince William County Public Schools, and Mollie Van Lieu Senior Director of Nutrition Policy at United Fresh Produce Association to discuss how state and local districts pivoted fast to ensure children still received healthy school meals. If you don’t think your child’s school is providing healthy meals, or enough of them, during COVID-19, you won’t want to miss this podcast episode. Adam Russo’s passion, dedication and pride will be sure to inspire you to take action if your school can’t match this level of service.
Also on the podcast was Tim Busby, co-founder and managing partner of PurLite and Kurt Wagaman, general manager of PurLite, two extremely intelligent gentlemen bringing the safety and sanitization of pure light (literally) to our homes. It’s hard enough to keep your household clean and germ-free, but doing it in a pandemic and attempting to eliminate chemicals can feel next to impossible. PurLite has an incredible solution that allows you to sanitize household items in seconds using medical-grade UV-C light.
The Produce Moms celebrated National Fruits and Veggies Month with Wendy Reinhardt Kapsak, an international celebrated dietician and President and CEO of the Produce for Better Health Foundation (PBH). We’ve been facing a fruit and veggie consumption crisis for years that’s negatively impacting our society, culture and economy. Wendy is on a mission to change it. September brought an incredible theme to National Fruit and Veggie Month called Have A Plant® Nation which is helping families connect more and create unique ways to enjoy fruits and vegetables.
Bella Hughes, co-founder and President of Shaka Tea, shared with us the joys of Hawaii through her inspirational story of creating a brand new product, marketplace and economic growth for her native homeland. Shaka Tea is healthy, zero carbs and has no artificial sweeteners. Not only is it incredibly tasty and delicious, but also it’s a product that has created economic growth, cultural awareness, support for native farmers, and opportunities to reverse an endangered species!
We also found out about North Shore Living Herbs’ incredible solution to herbs that go bad all too fast. Sustainable, eco friendly, and a conversation piece for your home, Suzette Overgaag (Vice President) and her husband’s clamshell “mini greenhouse” herbs and potted living herbs are helping family’s plan meals ahead of time and eliminating unnecessary waste. They’re even the first culinary herb grower in the United States to be certified as a sustainable grower by a recognized third-party and the first hydroponic grower to be certified organic.
Dr. Yami Cazorla-Lancaster, DO, MPH, MS, FAAP, And Founder Of Veggie Fit Kids, joined us for an incredible episode on intuitive eating and helping our kids create a healthy relationship with their bodies. Dr. Yami noticed her pediatric patients coming in with too many issues related to their dietary choices that she couldn’t ignore, and also started noticing her six-year-old son at home developing an unhealthy relationship with the way his body looked. She turned to intuitive eating, a method originally founded by Evelyn Tribole and Elyse Resch, which has helped her patients and parents learn to follow their body’s intelligence as a method for maintaining weight and eating healthier. She has some great tips on getting your kids to eat fruits and vegetables, too!
To wrap up our wonderful month of September, we learned about the difference between food traceability and food safety with Ralph Towell, Director Of Analytics And Business Processes At Duda Farm Fresh Foods. We may only hear about food safety events (think recalls and outbreaks), but there’s plenty the produce industry is doing behind the scenes to ensure these safety events are traceable so effective measures can be put in place to prevent them. The Produce Traceability Initiative involves the entire industry and is a universal method for tracking packages all the way from the field to grocery or retailer shelf.
Take an in depth look below at the wonderful guests we had on The Produce Moms show during the month of September.
September 2020 Podcast Episode 114: Creating the Future Health of Our Country Through School Meals
Keeping Children Fed Is Essential To Learning And Growth
It was scary enough when this year’s pandemic first hit and grocery store shelves were empty with some of our necessary and favorite items. Not to mention, what were we going to do about our children? Schools alongside parents were equally responsible for figuring out a solution to educating kids, but ensuring they’re fed.
Adam Russo, Director of School Food and Nutrition Services at Prince William County Public Schools, has always been focused on feeding kids at his over 100 schools and centers with fresh fruits and vegetables from local farmers. When the pandemic hit, his district transitioned to a grocery style supplement box for families to pick up weekly, and he kept in mind situations where families might not have proper heating or cooling methods in their home.
If you’ve ever felt like your school doesn’t provide enough healthy meals or quality food to your children, you’ll be mind blown by what Adam Russo has to share about his district and dedicated school meal staff. They’ve been working diligently to provide healthy solutions that replace, for example, all you can eat salad bars where children have access to a plethora of fruits and vegetables.
Mollie Van Lieu, Senior Director of Nutrition Policy at United Fresh Produce Association, who was on The Produce Moms 100 episodes ago, is also actively working on solutions for our “new normal” with federal nutrition policies, and advocating for universal school meals at the Washington School Nutrition Association Conference held in September.
September 2020 Podcast Episode 115: Sustainable Medical Grade Sanitization
Sunshine In A Box That Sanitizes In Seconds
Enough is enough with all of the chemicals and solutions required to keep your home healthy, safe and sanitized. Why shouldn’t you or the average American household have access to medical-grade sanitizing solutions that are chemical-free?
That’s the question Tim Busby, co-founder and managing partner of PurLite and Kurt Wagaman, general manager of PurLite asked themselves and created the solution for. PurLite provides sanitization in seconds through the use of UV-C light.
Imagine having a device the size of a toaster or tissue box that you can pop your most germ-laden items in (think cell phone, cloth face masks, car keys, earbuds, remote controls) and know they are 99.999% sanitized in seconds. The same sanitization that is used when you’re at the hospital is now available for use in your home without chemicals.
The device effectively gets rid of E. coli, H1N1, Avian, Swine and other common coronaviruses based on the amount of time it’s exposed to the light. Make sure to listen to this episode and find out how using light can give you the sanitization standards you expect for your home!
September 2020 Podcast Episode 116: National Fruits and Veggie Month
Eating More Fruits And Vegetables For Our Physical, Societal And Economic Health
The National Fruit and Veggie Month is hosted by the Produce For Better Health Foundation which wants to help increase fruit and vegetable consumption but elevate the behaviors of fruit and vegetable consumption as a national priority. Wendy Reinhardt Kapsak, an internationally celebrated dietician and President and CEO of the (PBH) sat down with us to share about this year’s theme called Have A Plant® Nation.
Have A Plant® Nation wants folks like you to align with their values and share that with the world. It’s not just about eating more fruits and vegetables daily or at every meal, it’s about sharing your beliefs on how important that is with the rest of the world.
Yes, we all need to eat more fruits and vegetables, but we all need to be having health conversations and connections at home too.
This episode teaches us not only how we can incorporate more fruits and vegetables into our family’s diet, but how to take part in Have A Plant® Nation year long by playing an individual, but essential, role in transforming the nation’s health.
September 2020 Podcast Episode 117: The Abundance of Hawaii Creates a New Industry
Come home to health through the abundance of Hawaii
Bella Hughes, co-founder and President of Shaka Tea, is a passionate, native Hawaiian who’s blazing a trail for Hawaii’s economy in the food and beverage industry. Bella found it frustrating that, whenever she visited grocery store aisles around the world, she could find “Hawaiian” consumer product goods, but they didn’t have authentic ingredients from Hawaii and the companies were never founded there.
During her pregnancy with her first child, she was drinking tons of homemade Mamaki tea, which is a naturally caffeine-free plant native to Hawaii. She’d mix the tea with her favorite homeland fruits, like passionfruit, guava and mango, and realized she had a product worth marketing.
Have you ever felt frustrated at the array of flavored teas (iced and hot) on the market and the amount of sugar that’s added to them? Shaka Tea uses monk fruit sweetener which amounts to no added sugar and zero carbs in each bottle. Shaka tea has quite literally created a brand new industry which is revitalizing Hawaii’s economy, stimulating long-term economic growth, supporting local farmers and even creating pollination opportunities for the island’s endangered pollinator Kamehameha butterfly.
Listen and learn about the wonders of Shaka Tea from inspirational entrepreneur Bella Hughes!
September 2020 Podcast Episode 118: Fresh, Living Herbs That Last
Living herbs that add flavor, conversation and love to your home
Suzette Overgaag is the Vice President of North Shore Living Herbs, a company that’s revolutionizing the way we season and garnish our meals (and decorate our kitchen counters!). Originally growing cucumbers with her third-generation greenhouse grower Leo Overgaag, the couple decided to switch directions when Suzette wanted to follow a dream she had.
Frustrated with how fast herbs went bad, Suzette envisioned having an instant herb garden in her kitchen where every day she could pick living, fresh herbs. The company’s clamshell “mini greenhouse” herbs and potted living herbs aren’t meant to be planted but will last 2-3 weeks and sometimes up to over a month’s time!
Not only does this provide your meals with more flavor and nutrition, but it also creates an impact based on one of North Shore Living Herbs’ core values: sustainability. They are the first culinary herb grower in the United States to be certified as a sustainable grower by a recognized third-party and use solar energy and geothermal energy to heat the greenhouse and implement different practices that are good for employees.
September 2020 Podcast Episode 119: Intuitive Eating and Healthy Body Image for Children
Help your kids maintain a healthy weight and relationship with their body
Dr. Yami Cazorla-Lancaster, DO, MPH, MS, FAAP, And Founder Of Veggie Fit Kids, is on a mission to help parents understand there are better solutions out there for kids who are struggling with their weight or aren’t eating enough fruits and vegetables. As someone who herself struggled with body image issues, dieting and unhealthy weight loss methods, Dr. Yami understands the messages our society sends to us starting at a very young age that impact the relationship we have with food and our bodies for life.
As a pediatrician, many of Dr. Yami’s patients were coming in with allergies, chronic pain and issues related to their food choices, so she decided to learn about intuitive eating. Intuitive eating is simply “honoring hunger and satiety” and was originally founded by Evelyn Tribole and Elyse Resch.
Children have their own intuitive way of eating, and we must learn to encourage that, rather than reprimanding them for not eating in the ways we’ve learned to adapt to as adults. If you’re someone that struggles to get your kids to eat healthy fruits and vegetables, Dr. Yami shares some incredible insight on the do’s and don’ts to change this! Click below to listen to this powerful interview below.
September 2020 Podcast Episode 120: The Produce Traceability Initiative
Improving food safety and food traceability around the world
The Produce Traceability Initiative is an industry-wide initiative to properly track packages to ensure food safety events are identified as fast as possible. Ralph Towell, Director Of Analytics And Business Processes At Duda Farm Fresh Foods, is someone who’s been a key stakeholder in helping this initiative come alive. The produce industry needs a way to track packages and produce all the way from the field to the retail shelf, which is exactly what the PTI has created.
GS1 is a global communication standard that was put in place so that all parts of the produce supply chain around the world, no matter what language they speak, would be able to communicate universally about what and where packages are headed. Instead of taking weeks and months to track down a particular source of a food safety event (like an E. coli outbreak, for example), it can now happen in a matter of days.
No, traceability doesn’t get rid of food safety events completely, however, it can help track down the source of the event quickly and efficiently so we can find out why it happened and what needs to change so another event is prevented. There are seven key milestones that the produce industry follows to make sure PTI compliance is taking place and make sure the process of bringing your family fresh fruits and vegetables safely is implemented from start to finish.
Listen and find out more about the incredible work the PTI is doing and how the produce industry is trying to measure and prevent future food safety events so you can further trust the suppliers that bring you and your family healthy, fresh fruits and vegetables.
To see a list of all our past episodes, visit www.theproducemoms.com/podcast/
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Related:
August 2020: The Produce Moms Podcast Month in Review
July 2020: The Produce Moms Podcast Month in Review
June 2020: The Produce Moms Podcast Month in Review
May 2020: The Produce Moms Podcast Month in Review
