BURLINGTON, Vt. -
Healthier options could be coming to a Vermont convenience store near you.
A push is on from the health department and more than a dozen community organizations to bring fruits, vegetables and other nutritious choices to counters across the state. A newly-released survey from the department of more than 25-hundred people shows 60 percent would buy healthier foods if they were more easily available. The fit and health campaign is also aimed at lowering the profile of tobacco and alcohol ads in stores.
"We're not asking retailers to limit eliminate all alcohol or tobaccos, we're asking them to move the signage and the advertising that might be directed towards youth and children. And we're asking them to increase their sales by promoting some of the healthier choices," said Susan Conurn with the Vermont Department of Health.
"Kids have a lot of choices and a lot of times the more convenient foods are the less healthy foods, so I just thought it was really important for us to become involved because we have a lot of children come in and out of our store," said Melissa Short with Waggy's Store and Deli in Burlington.
Right now the effort to bring better choices to convenience stores is underway in roughly 50 locations across Vermont.
