Nevada-based Peri & Sons Farms is embracing the national movement to ‘eat brighter!’ by offering consumers a "Sesame Street" branded package of premium onions beginning in May 2015.

“One reason we decided to adopt the ‘eat brighter!’ message this year is that it aligns with our company’s recent efforts to internally promote health and wellness at Peri & Sons Farms,” Teri Gibson, director of marketing and customer relations, said in a press release.

Pamela Peri, executive vice president of Peri & Sons Farms, initiated the company’s health and wellness program earlier this year and actively promotes the idea that even small steps lead the way to improved health and well-being. “A company cannot thrive without strong and healthy employees," Peri said in the release. "Our team members are learning that making better food choices, for themselves and their children, can help them to live healthier, happier and more fulfilling lives.”  

According to the Mayo Clinic’s website, almost 20 percent of children in the United States are overweight or obese. Children become overweight and obese for a variety of reasons but research has shown that unhealthy eating patterns are a contributing factor.

“There are many fruits and vegetable that kids are immediately drawn to; we thought it would be interesting to see how they react to the familiar 'Sesame Street' characters when it comes to a vegetable outside their comfort zone,” Gibson said in the release.

Peri & Sons will be offering its white, yellow and red onions in two-, three- and five-pound packs printed with large colorful images of Sesame Street’s Big Bird and Ernie characters.

The company said kids are known to wrinkle their noses at onions, but Peri & Sons is hoping to aid families in their effort to incorporate more healthy veggies into their home-cooked meals. “While the bag's front side aims to connect with kids, the bag's back side provides information adults can feel good about," the company said. "Such as recipe tips and the fact that onions not only provide flavor; they also provide health-promoting phytochemicals as well as nutrients.”

Onions are a major dietary source of quercetin; studies have shown that the quercetin our bodies absorb from onions is more than three times that from apples.