Welcome  to  Public  health  moment from  the  University  of  Minnesota. October  8  through  the  12th  is  National  School  Lunch  Week, a  time  to  recognize  this  program  that serves  31  million  US  students  each  day. Jamie  Stang,  a  University  of  Minnesota  assistant professor  and  nutrition  expert  has  more  well. The  National  School  Lunch  Program  is  one  of the  longest  running  nutrition  programs for  children  in  the  US. It  was  started  in  1946  as  an  act  of  national  security. Basically,  as  people  were signing  up  to  serve  in  World  War  Two, they  were  finding  that  many  of the  potential  soldiers  were undernourished  or  malnourished  nationally. More  schools  are  starting  to  buy  foods locally  under  so  called  farmed  school  programs. Stang  says  that  Minnesota  is a  leader  in  this  area  right  now. In  Minnesota,  we  have  25  school  districts that  have  really  taken  this  on  in a  big  way  and  are  providing  quite  a  bit  of their  food  through  local  vendors. And  about  60%  of  the  schools  overall  are  in the  process  of  starting  this  program  with  local  food. We  expect  that  there's  less  time  for the  vitamins  and  minerals  to  deteriorate. So  the  food  not  only  tastes  better  and  is  fresher, but  it's  also  more  nutritious. And  then  the  local  economy  benefits because  the  farmers  are  able  to  get a  relatively  good  price  for  their  food  and  it doesn't  have  to  be  shipped  from  far away  for  public  health  moment. And  John  Finnegan.  I'm  Mark  Anger,  Brison.