In part of a national campaign to support healthy snacking, Sesame Street's Elmo and Rosita took to the U.S. White House yesterday to remind the nation's children that fruits and vegetables are an everyday food. 

"It’s wonderful. Elmo loves healthy foods. Elmo thinks fruits and vegetables are delicious," the muppet said, sitting alongside First Lady Michelle Obama.

"They are so good for you that you can eat them every single day," Spanish-speaking muppet Rosita chimed in.

These children's icons, alongside the rest of the Sesame Street team, will now be providing their images free of charge in support of fruit and vegetable marketing.

The "furry friends," as described by Sesame Workshop's Mel Ming, will work in collaboration with the Produce Marketing Association (PMA) and the Partnership for a Healthier America to mold healthy eating habits from an early age.

"We’re thrilled to share that, under the agreement, members of the fresh produce industry will receive access to Sesame Street’s licensed characters, free of royalties for two years from the launch date," PMA's Jan DeLyser said of the initiative.

"Over the next few months, a small task force of members will work with PMA’s new president Cathy Burns and the team at Sesame to develop the licensing agreement and a toolkit for industry – with a goal of launching the initiative in March 2014."

The partnership comes in response to the first lady's call to step up healthy marketing directed at children. It is the first response in what Obama hoped will be many.

"These characters are so incredibly important because right now the deck is stacked against fruits and vegetables," Obama said, reminding the press that most food ads meant for children promote sugary, salty or high fat products.

"Imagine what will happen when we take our kids to the grocery store and they see the Muppets characters lining the produce aisle. Imagine what it’s going to be like when our kids are begging us to buy fruits and vegetables instead of cookies and chips."

Obama cited one study in which children were offered an apple, a cookie or both as a snack. Most children went for the cookie, a choice Obama said she may have even gone for herself. With the support of Elmo, however, children's choices changed.

"When researchers put Elmo stickers on apples and let them choose again, nearly double chose the apple," she said.

With the support of healthy marketing, DeLyser reminded the conference that even the most notorious snackers can change their bad habits.

"Even the Cookie Monster has changed his ways and accepted that cookies are a sometimes food," DyLyser said in one of the introductory comments.

C may be for cookie, but now the Sesame gang has a new word to add to its vocabulary: colors. The show now reminds children to "eat their colors" every day, turning to the colorful array of fruit and vegetables available to them.

"Together we will use the power of Sesame Street’s favorite characters to encourage eating more fruits and vegetables," Sesame Workshop's Ming said.

"It is our shared responsibility to give children every chance they can to grow up healthy and successful."

Related story: U.S.: Sesame Street stars to join First Lady after kids’ healthy eating announcement

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