Hawaii public schools begin serving locally grown pineapples in cafeterias

News admin September 30, 2026 0 Comments

Hawaii public schools begin serving locally grown pineapples in cafeterias

HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) – 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.

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

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.

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.”

Chun added that incorporating island produce helps connect students with familiar local flavors.

“We’re really excited that we can now offer students the local variation of all their different fruits and vegetables that they’ve kind of become accustomed to here in Hawaii,” she said.

The dish earned quick approval from students during lunch service.

“I thought it was very good, and it tasted very fresh. I also really liked the chicken because it wasn’t dry,” Mililani Middle seventh grader Olivia Manglallan said. “It was the perfect amount of pineapple. You could really taste it, and it was really juicy.”

State education officials plan to expand the pineapple rollout to campuses statewide as supplies allow, advancing a broader department goal to increase local food purchasing by 2030.