Nickelodeon has licensed several of its most popular TV characters -- including SpongeBob SquarePants and Dora the Explorer -- to several fresh produce distributors that will begin introducing a wide range of fruits and vegetable packages featuring the Nickelodeon characters in supermarkets next month. The agreements are the latest initiative by Nickelodeon to encourage healthier diet and lifestyle choices for kids.

Starting this fall, Grimmway Farms Inc. will produce 1.6oz. single-serving to five-pound bags of baby cut and peeled carrots in packages featuring SpongeBob SquarePants, Dora the Explorer, and Sportacus and Stephanie from the Nick Jr. series LazyTown. Boskovich Farms will feature SpongeBob SquarePants on its bags of spinach. Also, LGS Specialty Sales, distributors of oranges, tangerines and clementines, will feature SpongeBob, Dora, Blue's Clues and The Backyardigans characters on its bags of fruit. Upcoming deals also include using Nickelodeon characters on cartons of lowfat milk.