A Boost Of Blue In Schools

The Business of Blueberries

In this episode of “The Business of Blueberries,” host Kasey Cronquist, president of the U.S. Highbush Blueberry Council (USHBC) and the North American Blueberry Council (NABC), is joined by Rachel Petraglia, culinary specialist for the fifth largest school nutrition program in the nation at the Georgia Department of Education. Petraglia spent almost 14 years working for the Gwinnett School Nutrition Program, developing recipes and menus for the district’s 182,000 students. While working for Gwinnett, she facilitated a blueberry partnership through the Culinary Institute of America’s Healthy Kids Collaborative program, and helped develop several new menu items featuring frozen blueberries.

“I think that when you use fruit like blueberries and incorporate them into breakfast staples, you end up with a product that is really delicious. That's where I want to see school nutrition and school breakfast get to. That's the direction I believe it's going to start moving in. ” - Rachel Petraglia

Topics covered include:

• An introduction to Petraglia and her work for the Georgia Department of Education.
• An explanation of the collaboration between local school districts and the blueberry industry, and how students responded to it.
• What Petraglia sees for the future of school nutrition and how she is getting students excited about this progress.

Visit blueberryevents.org to learn more and register for the Blueberry Convention, Feb. 28-March 1 in Tucson, Arizona.

Crop Report

The Blueberry Crop Report is an update on crop conditions and markets throughout important blueberry growing areas. You’ll hear from Daniel Bustamante in Peru, Andres Armstrong in Chile and Mario Ramirez in Mexico. This was recorded on January 18, 2024.