Federal War On Obesity Reaches School Vending Machines

Hot on the heels of the newly introduced federal guidelines for school meals, the Obama administration is contemplating new rules for vending machines on school properties.

That’s right: the government’s attempt to reduce childhood obesity is moving from the school cafeteria to the vending machines.

Nutritionists say that school vending machines stocked with potato chips, cookies and sugary soft drinks contribute to childhood obesity, which has more than tripled in the past 30 years. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimate that about one in every five children is obese.

So it makes sense that the Obama administration is working on setting nutritional standards for foods that children can buy outside the cafeteria. With students eating 19 percent to 50 percent of their daily food at school, the administration says it wants to ensure that what they eat contributes to good health. The proposed rules are expected within the next few weeks.

Around the country, the picture is extremely varied: about half of U.S. states have adopted restrictions, including policies that limit the times or types of competitive foods available for sale in vending machines, cafeterias, and school stores and snack bars.Most states restrict access to competitive foods when school meals are being served. Five states restrict access to vending machines all day long.

But efforts to restrict the food that schoolchildren eat outside the lunchroom have long been controversial.

From The New York Times:

Representatives of the food and beverage industries argue that many of their products contribute to good nutrition and should not be banned. Schools say that overly restrictive rules, which could include banning the candy sold for school fund-raisers, risk the loss of substantial revenue that helps pay for sports, music and arts programs. A study by the National Academy of Sciences estimates that about $2.3 billion worth of snack foods and beverages are sold annually in schools nationwide.

No details of the proposed guidelines have been released, but health advocates and snack food and soft drink industry representatives predict that the rules will be similar to those for the government’s school lunch program, which reduced amounts of sugar, salt and fat.

(….)

But a study in the Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine released this month shows that despite industry efforts and those of others, snacking behavior among children remains largely unchanged. One reason is that healthier snacks were being offered alongside less nutritious offerings.

Of course, simply providing healthy snacks doesn’t mean that kids will eat them. Maybe that’s where good parenting, and some advice from teachers can play a part.

However, Roger Kipp, food service director for the Norwood school district in Ohio, said children could be persuaded to eat healthy foods and schools could still make a profit. Two years ago, Mr. Kipp eliminated vending machines and school stores in his district and replaced them with an area in the lunchroom where they could buy wraps, fruit or yogurt. Children ate better, and the schools made some money.

What do you think? Is it important for vending machines to sell only non-junk food?

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Photo Credit: Julian Bleeker

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Disclaimer: The views expressed above are solely those of the author and may not reflect those of
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Debbie C.

5:46AM PDT on Mar 25, 2012

If the Cafeteria and the vending machines only have healthy food, that is what the kids will eat. If junk food is 'out of sight,' then it will be 'out of mind.'

send a green star

Christina B.

2:39PM PDT on Mar 19, 2012

It's a step towards the right direction.

Sarah M.

3:23PM PDT on Mar 13, 2012

This is a great and necessary step towards solving the dilemma.

Mark S.

12:58PM PST on Mar 1, 2012

Don't matter where I live. The High School kids just go to fast-food restaurants during their lunch breaks.

Joyce D.

12:20PM PST on Mar 1, 2012

There has been real big issues thrown into the laps of the people who run fast food joints like McDonalds to keep the food they offer to the buying public as safe and healthy as possible. So why not do the same for vending machines in schools and the foods served in the school cafeteria. we have to take care of the health of our children because they are the ones who will run this world in the future when all of us are gone. Need we say more?

Ruby W.

2:56AM PST on Feb 29, 2012

Well I remember high school, where I had, for years, a can of Minute Maid juice and a bag of Andy Capp "fries" for lunch. A friend of mine, one of two friends who were tightly wound ballerinas with eating disorders, ate nothing during the day but Mountain Dew, Reese's Pieces, and ibuprofen. For YEARS. And we loved our blue raspberry lollipops after school waiting for the bus. We didn't see anything wrong with this - we were kids! But if we had had nothing to spend our pocket change on but fruit, sandwiches, salad, maybe some instant oatmeal for sweets, that's what we'd have eaten.

Heather M.

10:45PM PST on Feb 28, 2012

We are what we eat. If children are given healthy choices eventually, hopefully, they will become weened off sugary, bad for you foods. Best to teach them whilst they are young because that will determine what they eat, and how healthy they are when they become adults.Just make sure they are offered plenty of variety in the healthy foods so they won't feel deprived and that goes for fluids too.

NO ANY FW to me R.

6:07PM PST on Feb 28, 2012

Ra S. i agree with you...

Ryder W.

8:19PM PST on Feb 27, 2012

vending machines are needed in schools...they're the only way that some kids get any food during the school day. getting rid of them is not a smart idea. the snacks inside of the vending machines definitely needs to change, though. the junk food should be replaced with healthy, organic options like granola bars, apples, dried fruit, trail mix, fruit leathers, almonds, carrot sticks, rice cakes, real fruit juices, water, etc.

Ra S.

2:09PM PST on Feb 27, 2012

A child's tastes are developed through experiences. If a child is routinely given healthy options, then that child tends to prefer healthful foods. If a child is routinely fed junk food, then that child tends to prefer junk food. Children aren't yet able to understand the long-term consequences of their diet, while they are having lifelong effects. We owe it to them to give them a bunch of healthful options and not a bunch of bad ones. It's so much easier to eat well if you are surrounded by good foods, and it is so difficult to do so if you're hungry and all you can obtain is junk.