NEW YORK, July 2 /PRNewswire/ — Health, Fitness and Pizza Guru Matt McClellan, local officials and New York City pizza shop owners are putting the City of New York on a pizza diet with over 500,000 free slices being handed out in the center of Times Square. A reception and press conference will take place on Monday, July 5 at 11 A.M. at Sbarro on 701 7th Ave. in Manhattan as Matt rolls in from his 1,300 mile bike tour of 22 cities from Tampa to New York City, where the first pizzeria was established in the United States. Giant scales will be displayed in Times Square with local health officials assisting those looking to shed a few pounds by eating America’s favorite meal: pizza.

Matt will be joined by Pizza Spice Girls handing out Pizza Packets, which is a new product, offering a line of a fresh, clean and tasty pizza spice blend; parmesan; garlic; oregano; and red pepper. The spices will compliment the half a million free slices being given to tourists and local residents in Times Square. The US Pizza Team, a group of acrobatic pizza makers, will be performing at the event.

The Tour de Pizza lasted 30 days and has traveled through Orlando, Fla; Savannah, Ga; Raleigh N. C.; Washington D.C.; Philadelphia, Pa; concluding in New York City. The ride is being dedicated to the March of Dimes and was done as a public service. Its goal is to save lives by eating pizza and exercising. Matt wants to change New Yorkers’ public viewpoint that pizza is junk food and promote pizza as a healthy food instead. People can visit www.tourdepizza.com to follow Matt on Twitter and Facebook. Pizza Packet — which you can follow on Facebook and Twitter — is sponsoring the New York City Reception.

Pizzoids brought to you by Pizza Packets:

Each year, pizza is a $30 billion industry.

In the U.S., there are about 61,269 pizza parlors.

Everyone in the United States eats about 23 lbs. , or 46 slices, every year.

Each year in the United States, 3 billion pizzas are sold.