Calvin M. Rodwell Elementary School students assemble salads Tuesday, after the Baltimore, Md., school was awarded a salad bar from Let’s Move Salad Bars to Schools. This is the 4,000th salad bar the program has given.

The coming battle over whether to continue fruit and vegetable requirements in school meals programs was evident today when Let’s Move Salad Bars to Schools — a coalition of Whole Foods Market, the United Fresh Start Foundation, the Chef Ann Foundation, and the National Fruit and Vegetable Alliance — celebrated its 4,000th donation of a salad bar, to the Calvin M. Rodwell Elementary School in Baltimore.

Lorelei DiSogra, vice president for nutrition and health at United Fresh Produce Association, and Andrew Marshall, who manages Let’s Move Salad Bars for United Fresh, flank Sam Kass at Tuesday’s event at a Baltimore elementary school.

The School Nutrition Association, which represents school food service directors and the companies that make foods for the schools, has asked Congress to roll back the requirements that children take a half cup of fruits and vegetables with each meal. The United Fresh Produce Association and nutrition advocates are urging Congress to maintain it.

In Baltimore, coalition officials were joined by Sam Kass, former White House nutrition adviser and executive director of First Lady Michelle Obama’s Let’s Move! campaign, who has moved to New York.

“This achievement was made possible through teamwork, with organizations from both the public and private sectors joining forces to make it as easy as possible for schools to apply for salad bars,” Kass said in a news release. “We’ve learned that kids who have access to salad bars at school are eating three times as many fruits and vegetables. For that alone, we need to embrace and grow this cause.”

“Today’s announcement is an exciting milestone,” the first lady said in a statement. “I’m thrilled that the Let’s Move Salad Bars to Schools initiative has helped bring 4,000 school salad bars to more than 2 million children nationwide. As we celebrate the fifth anniversary of Let’s Move!, we are well on our way to a future when all students have access to a variety of vegetables and fruit from their school salad bars each day. This is what change looks like!”

“Showcasing successes like Baltimore is critical as Congress gets ready to reauthorize child nutrition programs later this year,” said Lorelei DiSogra, vice president for nutrition and health at United Fresh Produce Association. “With salad bars and a host of other programs designed to increase children’s access to fresh fruits and vegetables, Baltimore City students are learning to make healthy choices for a lifetime.”

The application to request salad bars from Let’s Move Salad Bars to Schools is available at saladbars2schools.org. In addition to the freestanding mobile salad bar, each school recipient receives access to thelunchbox.org, a free, comprehensive online portal that helps lunchrooms transition from frozen and boxed foods to fresh, whole, scratch-cooked foods.