More than 13,000 Utah students got a taste of good nutrition Monday, thanks to a federal grant aimed at battling childhood obesity and encouraging children to develop healthful eating habits.

Utah landed a little over $1 million to provide fresh fruits and vegetables to 25 schools in 11 districts through the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Program.

"Obesity is affecting our kids and we are trying to teach them good eating habits at an early age," said Kelly Orton, director of support services in Salt Lake City School District. Children "coming from poverty homes don't always get that opportunity, so we are trying to train them on what's out there and give them the opportunity to try fruits and vegetables."

The schools participating in the program all have 50 percent or more of their students enrolled in the free or reduced-price lunch program and are a mixture of urban and rural schools.

Christi Paulson, nutrition coordinator at Riley Elementary School, said for some students, their selection of fruits and vegetables is limited and this will provide an opportunity to learn more about them. The hope is that the instruction will influence what the family purchases.

"Lunches at school aren't very nutritious — they may meet the USDA standards, but when you look at what the kids eat in the lunchroom, they usually don't eat their fruit and vegetables," Paulson said. "They are not usually prepared very well in the lunchroom so the kids just always think (fruits and vegetables) are bad."

On Monday, pineapple was the "fruit du jour" and Paulson said teachers talked about where pineapples came from and why they are nutritious. Two days a week, students will be given a fruit or a vegetable to sample and learn about.

"They are going to get a lot of different varieties of fruits and vegetables and when they are sharing them and learning about them with teachers, they're more apt to try them than when they are just put on their tray in the lunchroom," Paulson said.

Nancy Denton, assistant director of child nutrition at the State Office of Education, said the pilot program will go until June of 2007 and possibly longer if federal funding continues.

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E-mail: terickson@desnews.com