HONOLULU — Hawaiʻi public schools are beginning to serve fresh, locally grown pineapple from Dole Plantation as part of their school meals, giving students more opportunities to enjoy Hawaiʻi-grown produce.

More than 2,100 pounds of Hawaiʻi-grown pineapple have been distributed to participating Oʻahu schools as part of the initial rollout. Twenty-one schools are currently offering the locally grown fruit, with additional schools expected to join over the next month.

Schools are serving the pineapple in two ways: as a fruit side at breakfast and lunch, and in the relish of a new island chicken wrap for lunch. The wrap is one of several new dishes developed through the Hawaiʻi State Department of Education’s partnership with Kapiʻolani Community College’s Culinary Institute of the Pacific and the Culinary Institute of America to redevelop school menu offerings around local ingredients and student preferences.

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

“I thought it was very good, and it tasted very fresh,” seventh grader Olivia Manglallan said. “It was the perfect amount of pineapple. You could really taste it, and it was really juicy.”

Her classmate, Maila Kuamoʻo, said the combination was a fun twist on a familiar favorite. “I really like pineapple, and I thought that it was good to put the pineapple in — kind of like pineapple on pizza, but then you put it in a burrito-style sandwich,” she said.

For Mililani Middle School School Food Services Manager Cherisse Chun, offering Hawaiʻi-grown pineapple is an exciting step toward bringing more local food into students’ meals.

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

The Department plans to expand its local pineapple offering to schools statewide as supply allows. The effort is part of HIDOE’s broader goal to increase local food purchasing by 2030 and incorporate more Hawaiʻi-grown products into school meals.

“We’re really excited that we can now offer students the local variation of the different fruits and vegetables they’ve become accustomed to here in Hawaiʻi,” Chun said. “It’s great to support the local economy while also serving local produce to our students.”

Hawaiʻi public schools are among the state’s largest institutional food consumers, serving more than 100,000 student meals each day. The Department continues to work with local farmers, producers and vendors statewide to expand the regular use of fresh, locally grown food in school cafeterias.