How about a tasty prune burger?

Prunes in hamburgers?

Yup.

Cherries, blueberries and veggies, too.

A growing number of schools nationwide are putting more fruits and vegetables into fat-laden meats like burgers and breakfast sausage to combat soaring childhood obesity rates.

Students returning to class in the District of Columbia Sept. 2 will be able to choose between veggie burgers and regular hamburgers, said Louis Erste, chief operating officer for the D.C. public schools.

The menu change, which will start after a taste-testing party in early September, is part of a three-year effort to reduce fat and sodium in the cafeteria food, Mr. Erste said, adding he hopes to expand the menu to include fruit-based meat products, like the prune and cherry burgers served at schools in California and the Midwest.

“It sounds like it would be better than some of these veggie burgers,” he said.

Several researchers have found that fruit reduces the total saturated fat because it replaces some of the fatty meat. Initially, fruit concentrates were added to keep meat from drying out and tasting stale.

“Putting fruit purees in meat may help children get the additional nutrients they need to be healthy,” said Jennifer Leheska, who recently published preliminary results on a study mixing blueberries and prunes into breakfast sausages served at schools.

The results showed the fruit sausages had less fat and more antioxidants than regular breakfast sausages served in schools, said Ms. Leheska, a graduate research assistant at Texas Tech University.

While no public schools in the Washington area offer fruit burgers, several are looking for ways to follow the lead of Bloomington, Ill., public schools.

Students there will eat burgers cooked with Michigan cherries, said Connie Mueller, director for food and nutrition services for Bloomington city schools.

The cherry burgers, in their fourth year, are a popular menu item for some 58,000 students in the school system, Ms. Mueller said.

“Most students aren’t even aware they have fruit in them, and we have yet to receive a complaint,” she said.

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