Butylated Hydroxyanisole (BHA) is a synthetic food preservative that is added to processed foods, primarily fats and oils, to slow the development of foods from going bad or rancid due to oxidation. BHA is found in butter, cereal, baked goods, sweets, vegetable oils, potato chips, and various snack foods.  BHA prolongs the shelf life of these processed foods.  In 1986, California passed proposition 65 which declared BHA in a list of chemicals which cause cancer or reproductive toxicity in laboratory animals.  However, there is no definitive evidence that BHA causes cancer in humans.  Regarding the use of preservatives, there are two conflicting views.  On the one hand, there is a risk of food-borne disease from consuming food that is spoiled or rancid if one were to ingest food devoid of preservatives.  On the other hand, the risk of ingesting chemical preservatives such as BHA needs to be considered.  At this time, until more studies are conducted with more conclusive data documenting the human safety of BHA, BHA should be avoided in the diet. 

This ingredient is just a glimpse into the 75 or so food ingredients that Revolution Foods deems “unacceptable.”

You are what you eat…so make it a point to eat the healthiest, freshest, least processed food available.

Artificial colors or dyes are complex organic chemicals that are added or applied to food with the goal of imparting color.  There are currently 9 artificial dyes that the FDA tests and certifies and assures that they meet certain legal specifications.  Color additives are now recognized as a major component of practically all processed foods we eat.  Companies like using artificial dyes because they are cheaper, more stable, and brighter than most natural colorings.  Numerous animal studies show a correlation with food dyes and cancer.  Red dye 40 and yellow dye 5 may cause hyperactivity in children, yet it is hard to prove this relationship definitively.  Some dyes potentially cause hypersensitivity reactions in humans.  Artificial food dyes do not add any nutritional value to food yet they potentially cause unnecessary risk.  It seems prudent to choose a product with natural coloring rather than potentially dangerous artificial colors. 

 This ingredient is just a glimpse into the 75 or so food ingredients that Revolution Foods deems “unacceptable.”

 You are what you eat…so make it a point to eat the healthiest, freshest, least processed food available.

Over the past 5 months, as a medical advisor to Revolution Foods, I reviewed their list of “unacceptable ingredients.”  These are the ingredients Revolution Foods deems “unacceptable” and therefore does not allow them to be included in their school meals.  Revolution Foods is justifiably concerned – and researching these ingredients extensively, I concur - about these “unacceptable ingredients” because of their unknown long-term effects on the developing brains and bodies of children.  

While some scientific data available today indicates that some of these ingredients used in moderation may be safe, I have come to endorse Revolution Foods’ choice to keep these artificial ingredients out of their food to protect children in their partner schools across the country.  Indeed, no one knows for sure what long-term cumulative effects these ingredients may have on the developing human body.

Over the next few weeks, I will share details from my research to highlight some of the ingredients on the unacceptable ingredient list.

 The first ingredient from the Revolution Foods “unacceptable ingredient” list that I felt needed to be highlighted is High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS), due to the significant health concerns related to its consumption.

HFCS is an artificial sweetener that was introduced to the US from Japan in the 1970s.  Its production starts with extracting starch from corn, hydrolyzing it to glucose and converting part of the glucose into fructose through enzymatic isomerization.  The final outcome is a blend of glucose and fructose, similar to sucrose, or table sugar.  It is a cheaper and sweeter alternative to sugar.  HFCS is found in thousands of processed foods ranging from salad dressings, ketchups, sodas, jams, jellies, barbeque sauce to bread.   HFCS and fructose are contributors to many health issues such as obesity, inflammation, increased blood pressure, fatty liver, insulin resistance which can lead to diabetes, and gout.  High fructose corn syrup is ubiquitous in most processed foods. 

Due to the detrimental health concerns related to the ingestion of HFCS, it should be avoided in a healthy diet.

 This ingredient is just a glimpse into the 75 or so food ingredients that Revolution Foods deems “unacceptable.”

 You are what you eat…so make it a point to eat the healthiest, freshest, least processed food available.

Together, for the last seven years, we've been on a mission to provide access to healthy, nutritious meals to school kids across the country. On December 12th, Revolution Foods will prepare its 50 millionth meal! We couldn't be more proud of this amazing accomplishment and we couldn’t have done it without the care, leadership and dedication of each and every one of our partners. We are humbled and inspired everyday by your efforts, and you continue to amaze us with your leadership, dedication and strength. As a result, we are at a place that we never would have thought possible seven years ago.

Seven years ago, with the support of Lighthouse Community Charter School, we served our first few hundred meals out of a small corner of a rented kitchen, listening to educators across the country and quickly realizing the tremendous desire for, yet lack of, access to what all kids deserve: healthy, wholesome, delicious food made with respect. Today, nearly 1,000 community hired Team Members and 850 school partners make up the Revolution Foods family and each, in your own unique ways, have ensured that 50 million meals have reached kids in communities across the US.

So, on this momentous occasion, on behalf of everyone at Revolution Foods, we want to say:  thank you. We are honored to have you in the Revolution Foods family and can’t wait to continue to work with and learn from every single one of you.

Here’s to the next 50 million healthy meals served and thanks to you, lives changed

With gratitude,

The Revolution Foods Family

The Healthy Hunger-Free Kids Act means more kids can benefit from higher quality meals. Beyond encouraging our children to attend class, do homework and pursue extracurricular interests, we must commit to fueling their minds and bodies in a healthy fashion. Together, we can ensure our children thrive well beyond the lunchroom - something we should all stand behind.

When we hired our first few team members in 2006, we solidified our belief that creating good, fair jobs is as important a component of our social mission as providing healthy school meals. Creating a work environment where people show up to work healthy, motivated, and committed to a job well done is a key component to creating good jobs.

We believe in:

1. Supporting our communities – we start all our hiring efforts in the school communities that we serve. Hiring parents from our school partner community ensures both that we are contributing to the vibrancy and economic vitality of the school, AND has the additional benefit of a quality control mechanism. Team members working on the production line know the meal they are preparing might go to their own son or daughter.
2. Providing opportunities for growth – when we opened our Houston culinary center in 2011, we empowered an entire team of culinary and delivery team members to travel to Houston and train their counterparts. For four of the six team members who conducted this training, this was their first time on an airplane. Talk about moving up! I can tell story upon story about team members like Aida who joined our company as employee #8 to start a culinary career. Entering as a prep cook, Aida has been promoted to positions of increasing responsibility, and she is now a production supervisor after five years of dedication and hard work. I am proud of people like Joe, who joined our Los Angeles team as a delivery driver over four years ago. From day one, Joe demonstrated strong leadership skills, and he was promoted to Dispatch Manager, a position that holds the great responsibility of ensuring the timely delivery of over 15,000 meals per day to schoolchildren throughout the greater Los Angeles area. Joe currently manages a team of 15 drivers and receives a salary and full suite of vacation and medical benefits
3. Fair wages and benefits – we believe in paying everyone a fair wage. Everyone in our company starts well above minimum wage, and we ensure that everyone who works full time has access to affordable health and medical plans, paid vacation time, and sick leave. We do this to ensure that team members and their families are able to be healthy and adequately rested so they can be present and productive while at work.
4. Ownership at all levels – we believe team members work smarter and demonstrate ownership over their jobs when they are, well, owners. Employee ownership helps everyone to be aligned around growth goals, financial sustainability, and ensuring a high quality product goes out the door each day.

The health of our nation is in a critical state – 42% of adults are predicted to be obese by 2030. At the same time, the health of our economy is in jeopardy. It is our responsibility and strong belief that as taxpayers, business leaders, and parents, we must create jobs and career growth opportunities to our nation that will fuel our economic health as well as the physical health of today’s younger generation.

At some point, we’ve all dreamed of being a rockstar.
Rockstars inspire us. They make us think,
“That’s awesome! I want to do that.”

We call these B Corps the rockstars of the new economy because they inspire us, and we think they will inspire the next generation of entrepreneurs to be like them. They are high growth and high impact. They are redefining what it means to be a successful business, proving that it’s possible to be the best in the world and also best for the world.

Revolution Foods is providing fresh, healthy lunches to students nationwide. This Oakland, California-based company provides tasty, nutritious food alternatives to the typical high fat, high sugar, low quality school lunches. Since it began in 2006, Revolution Foods has served more than 30 million whole food meals to kids across the country, improving their health and setting a new standard for school lunches.

Their meals are home–style and based on real food ingredients like whole grains and fresh fruits and vegetables.  At an average of $2.50 per lunch, Revolution Foods is ensuring that eating healthy is affordable, staying within the $2.75 for which the federal government reimburses schools. 

Revolution Foods is committed to making an impact by providing healthy meals and offering nutrition education programs designed to encourage healthier eating decisions. Their high food standards, food and school partners, and 750 plus community hired employees, are all helping Revolution Foods lead the charge against the national childhood obesity crisis. 

via BCorp

A Cross-Disciplinary Approach to Meeting Kids’ Needs
Fittingly, the seed for Revolution Foods was planted in the classroom. On the first day of a cross-disciplinary product development class involving the business school, the engineering school, and the art school, I walked in with a hand-drawn sketch exploring how to get healthier food to kids in an educational way.
As my fellow classmates began outlining their own ideas for innovative products, one of them (Kristin Groos Richmond) held up a school lunch that she’d purchased on the way to class. We looked at each other across the room, and that was the beginning of a great friendship and business partnership.
Kids are used to eating what’s in front of them, but they don’t always have information that’s accessible to them about what they’re eating. We began exploring ways to change that.

Listening to the Right People
One of the first challenges we encountered was a cacophony of adult voices telling them kids wouldn’t cooperate. Most people said kids just aren’t going to want to eat healthy food. But we believe you should respect your consumer and talk to them directly.

So we went straight to the source: the kids. We asked kids, "what do you like? Would you be open to trying new things?" We discovered they were remarkably open, as long as the food tasted good and was presented in an appealing way. That reality – discovered only by ignoring the naysayers and speaking directly to the population we were trying to serve – guided everything we did from then on.

(adapted from an original piece from Netimpact)