Sadie Jo Smokey
Stuck on good eating 'Passport' gets kids to eat produce, collect stickers
Kids like to collect stuff such as rubber balls, rocks, baseball cards and stickers.
Entrepreneur Robert Zyluk realized that if he combined kids' passion for collecting with a goal to eat more fresh fruits and vegetables, he could do something to curtail childhood obesity.
Zyluk created the Produce Passport and a fun process that begins with the fruit or vegetable: The child takes the produce sticker off, and the parent or an older child washes, prepares and serves the fruit or vegetable. After eating it, the child puts the sticker in the Passport. advertisement
The Passport has pages for 21 fruits and vegetables, most of which have stickers and are found in produce aisles in grocery stores. The amounts of the fruits and vegetables to be consumed vary, so that produce totals can reach 90-plus.
Kids who use the Passport "are becoming fruit fanatics overnight," Zyluk said. "They like to collect things. They know there's a free spot to be filled. It takes the onus off the parents to make sure they eat three kiwis, three apricots or three apples."
The Passport has fruit facts, puzzles and games so children learn about nutrition without hearing the word "nutrition," Zyluk said, and the process also helps finicky eaters expand their food palette.
"(Some kids) would never try papaya if they didn't have a papaya sticker to fill on their Passport," Zyluk said.
"I've had parents call and say the kids are asking to buy fruit, not chips, not licorice, but fruit. Mission accomplished."
Zyluk has been selling Passports over the Internet from his office in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. The Passport is $2.65, available online at www.producepassport.com or at 1-(204)-770-7607
