Hawaii public schools begin serving locally grown pineapples in cafeterias

More than 2,000 pounds of Hawaii-grown pineapple is heading into public school cafeterias across Oahu, giving students a fresh taste of island produce at breakfast and lunch.

Official response and confirmed impact

Currently, 21 campuses are serving the locally grown fruit, with additional schools expected to join the program over the next month.

The entree is one of several new dishes developed through a partnership between the Hawaii State Department of Education, Kapiolani Community College’s Culinary Institute of the Pacific and the Culinary Institute of America to redesign menu offerings around local ingredients.

Mililani Middle School Food Services Manager Cherisse Chun said shifting from imported produce to local harvests marks an exciting milestone.

“Previously, we’ve been able to get Dole pineapple from the Philippines, so it’s really exciting now that we can get it from Hawaii,” Chun said.

“Pineapple is one of the more widely accepted fruits among our students here, so being able to offer them the local variant is really exciting.”

Incident background

At Mililani Middle School — the state’s largest middle school, serving approximately 1,000 to 1,500 lunches daily — students got a first taste of a new chicken pineapple wrap.