Pop Machines In Schools

Facing what many consider an epidemic of obesity in adults and children explode, a growing number of state and regional legislatures are passing laws that prohibit the sale of junk food in school vending machines and cafeterias.

The new regulations differ from region to region, but the general trend is to reduce the availability of sugar, salt and fat foods and snacks in charge, and replace them with nutritious foods and healthy snacks.

The question of money

These good intentions are not always easy to apply. Money raised its ugly head in many places along the way, it is difficult to switch to healthier alternatives.

First, vending machine operators naturally prefer to fill their machines with junk food as these foods "generally have two main advantages over other more healthy alternatives. They have a higher profit margin, and they sell better because the kids (for whatever reason) prefer them. This means that the vending machine companies may offer attractive incentives to schools for participation in the profits when they fill their machines with pop and candy.

As everyone in the company knows, "healthy" vending machines can not compete with many "unhealthy" until the attractive, good tasting healthy snack products are available at a competitive price.

And student organizations themselves are divided on whether to go "healthy". Many student groups use candy sales as one of their main methods of fundraising. According to Laura Thomas, a senior at Wilcox High School in Santa Clara, California, "These sales reflect the needs of clubs, because they can sell at school, during lunch or class. If clubs have been forced to switch to selling other things such as calendars or magazines, they will dramatically change their target market. It is likely that students simply would not be interested in these new products as they are in the candy. "

In other words, do not allow sale of junk food by groups of students would fundraising programs in schools much more difficult and jeopardize the current structure of Fundraising that feeds the money directly into school curricula. Of course, not everyone agrees that this would be a bad thing. As another student from California, Leah Karlins, a junior at Branham High School in San Jose said: "It seems to ask the obvious question - why our schools need to pay to sell brownies, sports teams and clubs?

Meals changes do not come easily

There are similar problems when it comes to change cafeteria menus. Not only is it generally less expensive to offer French fries every day, but it is much easier, takes less planning, and will probably be more widely accepted by students of nutrition.

Menu changes usually involve a lot of experimentation and should be implemented slowly. Students will not go to "eat healthy" without a transition period relatively long and gradual.

And of course fees is always a factor. Most school boards in the U.S. receive a subsidy of meals for one or more levels of government, so they must keep their costs lower. At the same time they must meet progressively tighter nutritional standards. These standards are sometimes the result of intense industrial lobbies that appear to encourage "healthy" change, but can also make it difficult.

For example, the longstanding policies of the U.S. Department of Agriculture tend to discriminate in favor of plans that are heavy in meat and milk. The Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine notes that meat alternatives are not subsidized by the government, while products from meat and meat are.

The result is a low-fat, low cholesterol vegetarian burger is often twice as expensive than high-fat hamburger. The same thing happens with the milk. Dairy.