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First Lady Launches Latino Healthy Eating Initiative In Florida

TAMPA (CBSMiami/AP) -- First Lady Michelle Obama is in Florida Thursday not only promoting health and wellness but also raising cash to help her husband's re-election campaign.

Her first stop Thursday was Tampa where she was joined by Bob Unanue, President of Miami-based Goya Foods and other Latino organizations. Goya Foods, which is the largest, Hispanic-owned U.S. food company, is committing to being a National Strategic Partner for the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) in promoting My Plate or Mi Plato.

"Mi Plato" is a new USDA initiative to help Hispanic families make healthy meal choices.

Goya Foods is rolling out numerous steps to help communities enjoy healthy, tasty and affordable meals including creating brochures, posters, coupons and cookbooks for consumers; developing educational tools for 4th through 6th grade students across the country; and imprinting the MiPlato icon on some of their products.

"Today, Goya is utilizing their incredible reach into communities across the country to get this helpful information to the hand of parents," said First Lady Michelle Obama. "Everything that Goya is doing – from the MiPlato posters and pamphlets to cookbooks and recipes – center around the idea that we parents can make simple changes to help their children lead healthier lives."

"For Goya, MiPlato is an ideal reflection of our product line; quality, flavor, healthy and nutritious; while offering guidance to the public to easily identify the basic food groups of vegetables, grains, fruits, proteins, and dairy," said Bob Unanue, president of Goya Food.

Mrs. Obama is also scheduled to attend Democratic fundraisers in Sarasota and Palm Beach.

(TM and © Copyright 2012 CBS Radio Inc. and its relevant subsidiaries. CBS RADIO and EYE Logo TM and Copyright 2012 CBS Broadcasting Inc. Used under license. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)

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