Beecher’s Cheese took its commitment to change the way America eats to an Issaquah school last week.

A Clark Elementary classroom spent the day learning how to read nutrition labels from the company’s Flagship Foundation.

Students studied empty boxes of cereal and puzzled over the ingredients in a popular energy drink.

Together, they also made a vegetarian chili from scratch, and compared its nutrition to chili from a can.

“If we can give the power of knowledge now, it can translate into healthier choices in the future,” said teacher Liza Rickey.

The group targets fifth-grade classrooms, the year before most kids go to middle school, where they start making their own decisions about what foods to eat.

Beecher’s gives 1 percent of its gross profits to the foundation. The foundation teachers don’t mention the company’s product, artisan cheese from Pike Place.

It’s a reflection of the owner’s deep commitment to “pure food” – food without preservatives, flavor enhancers or trans fats – and a concern for children’s health, said Bill Marsh, the foundation’s executive director.

The foundation started in 2005, and now the group of three teachers visit about 350 schools throughout the year.

In the classroom, they talk about what ingredients are healthy, encouraging kids to eat foods with shorter more readable ingredient lists.

They also explain food dyes and how some are made out of petroleum, and share studies about how they affect kids with attention deficit disorder.

For Clark, the curriculum fits perfectly into the class’s unit on the human body, Rickey said.

She invited several professionals into the classroom throughout the year, because they make lasting impressions, she said. “They have the expertise.”

The foundation claims that about 85 percent of kids who participate in the Pure Food Kids Workshop change their eating habits.

Student Jackson Rubin said he’ll probably choose different brands and be more cautious about trans fats.

“I think (nutrition) is important because you can do healthier stuff,” he said.

Clark elementary students learned how to make a vegetarian chili and then compared its nutrition to chili from a can in a class put on by Beecher’s Flagship Foundation. From the left, Sam Andrus, Emily Wang and Siddharth Sharma. BY CELESTE GRACEY, Issaquah Reporter

Josh Feinsilber cuts an onion as a part of an elementary nutrition class that teaches kids about whole foods and how to read labels at Clark Elementary. BY CELESTE GRACEY, Issaquah Reporter