Kraft Foods, Surgeon General Launch Hispanic Healthy Foods Initiative

May 12, 2004 - U.S. Surgeon General Richard Carmona joined forces Tuesday with Kraft Foods Inc. and the National Hispanic Children's Institute to announce a new educational program designed to promote healthier eating habits among Hispanic families.

Hispanic Americans are particularly at risk for obesity and accompanying health problems, such as diabetes and heart disease.

The program — Salsa, Sabor y Salud — was set up originally as a pilot project in San Antonio, Los Angeles, Chicago, New York, Newark, N.J. and Miami, which together account for nearly 40 percent of the U.S. Hispanic population.

"My abuelita (grandmother) ruled the kitchen, and every dish she made started with a big scoop of lard from the can at the back of the refrigerator. Her meals were muy sabroso, but now we know that we can have the delicious tastes without adding the fat," Carmona says.

"This is part of increasing Americans' health literacy, which is critical in our Hispanic communities where overweight and obesity are contributing to the rise in health problems like heart disease and diabetes that are robbing Hispanics of the health and even their lives," he adds.

Salsa, Sabor y Salud provides child care centers and community organizations nationwide with an eight-week curriculum that parents can use to take small steps to change their daily routines and eating habits. Kraft is making the curriculum available by request from its Web site (www.kraft.com/salsa).

"Salsa, Sabor y Salud is a new kind of approach to address the problem of obesity that really makes sense to people," says Kraft's Senior Vice President of Global Health and Wellness Lance Friedmann. "Through interactive lessons, family food preparation and fun, physical activities, parents and children learn new ways to keep themselves, and each other healthy."