March 29, 2024

Obesity in children is an issue throughout North America and the habits that you learn when you are young are the ones that will carry through to adulthood. Bill Clinton has brokered a deal through his organization to have all schools offering healthier snacks by going through the manufacturers of the snack food themselves. This is a great good news story.

Just five months after a similar agreement targeting the sale of sodas in schools, Bill Clinton and the American Heart Association announced a deal Friday with several major food companies to make school snacks healthier — the latest assault on the nation’s childhood obesity epidemic.

“By working with schools and industry to implement these guidelines, we are helping to give parents peace of mind that their kids will be able to make healthier choices at school,” said Dr. Raymond Gibbons, president of the heart association.

The agreement with Kraft Foods Inc., Mars Inc., Campbell Soup Co., Groupe Danone SA and PepsiCo Inc. sets guidelines for fat, sugar, sodium and calories for snack foods sold in school vending machines, stores and snack bars. Those companies make everything from M&M’s, yogurt and granola bars to Frito-Lay potato chips, Snickers bars and canned soups.

Under the guidelines, most foods won’t be permitted to derive more than 35 percent of their calories from fat and more than 10 percent from saturated fat. There will be a limit of 35 percent for sugar content by .

Gibbons said Thursday the guidelines are based on the recommendations of leading scientists “as to what we should be doing to provide more nutritious foods for our kids.”

Charles Nicolas, a spokesman for PepsiCo, which owns Frito-Lay and Quaker, said Frito-Lay already has products that meet the guidelines, such as baked potato chips and reduced-sugar chewy bars.

“We’re going to change a few recipes so that more snacks meet those guidelines as well,” he said.

Kraft said in a statement that it would add the sodium and calorie caps to its nutrition guidelines “and extend these guidelines to include all of our competitive foods sold in schools.”

The William J. Clinton Foundation teamed up with the heart association to form the Alliance for a Healthier Generation in 2005. The alliance was formed to combat childhood obesity, which has been blamed for an increase in early-onset diabetes and other ills. In May, the alliance announced an agreement with beverage industry leaders to sell only water, unsweetened juice and low-fat and nonfat milk in elementary and middle schools. Diet sodas and sports drinks are still being sold in high schools.

Officials said that agreement covered 87 percent of the soft drink market in public and private schools. Bob Harrison, executive director of the alliance, said the snack-food industry is not as concentrated as the beverage industry, so the reach of this agreement will not be as wide as the earlier one. But he said the five companies participating in the new agreement are market leaders and their influence will be felt.

100 thoughts on “Junk food banned in schools

  1. pplz r forcing kids to not bring their own food cuz thei haz 2 eat the crap they call food in the prison
    that they call a skool

    1. you are just one way think about it differint it is not like kids the kid is never going to eat junk food again it is just 7 hours of the weekday

  2. i believe that school cafeterias should not sell junk foods and pop. If your here to be doing an assignment, here are some clues:

    YES: Yes, junk food causes heart problems, storkes, obestity, high blood presssure, etc.. As well as effecting athletic ability and acedemic problems. Cafeterias should encourage heathly eating to prevent these dieases and sicknesses from happening.

    NO: Kids need more choices in schools. Besides, if someone didn’t wake up well, the food will wake them. It would also encourage to make desisions. You can tell someone what to eat, they eat what they feel. If they wanna get fat, thats their choise.

  3. I’m a student and I believe junk food should be banned. Give us trail-mix or something but obesity is at a very high point for American children and adults. It should be banned so we can have a brighter and “skinner” future.

    1. obesity caused 300,000 deaths. it is not like u r never going to eat a hamberger again .u just need to cut back ,appples and pinnapples help control ur and vinniger is like salt but way healthier for u there is apple vinniger try that instesd !

      1. THE DEBATE OVER JUNK FOOD SHOULD BE BANNED IN ALL MIDDLE, ELEMENTARY AND HIGH SCHOOLS IS TOMORROW WISH US LUCK GRILS VS. BOYS LETS HOPE THE BOYS LOSS AFTER ALL THE TRIED TO CHEAT

  4. I believe that school canteens shouldn’t sell junk food because it is very unhealthy and causes sicknesses for young children.
    they could get bad diseases and die of heartattacks and strokes.

    also, what if parents want thi kids to be healthy, It is up to parents to decide what food their children can eat not the school canteens.

    Today’s teenagers are almost 3 times as likely to be over than they were 20 years ago.
    Should our school canteens only sell fresh fruit and good healthy snacks or is it OK for our children to buy the occasional icecream or lolly from the canteen?

    please take all this in and i’d like to hear back from you soon.

    1. well basicly we can tell them what to eat because you know they can always have this junk at home they don’t have to have it at school when they can have it at home!!!

  5. Could you please tell me when was this article published and when did Bill Clinton apply these new rules?
    Thank you.

  6. at my school we have vending machines with regular water and vitamin water it aint hard to be skinny just make junk food taste like veggies and healthy food like candy.

  7. first of all im 11 years old …i thought that this was important just because my grammar and spelling may not be great

    well… i think that you should be prepared to argue both sides… in class we are having a debate on why or why not junk food should be banned from the schools

    yes:many students are obese or have diabetes throughout the u.s. and the first step could be in schools; students who arent allowed to have junk in their houses do have junk in schools without parents/guardians knowing.

    no: schools are not responsible when you make the wrong decision the are their to provide a safe learning; students are required to expand their knowledge and can learn from theirs and others mistakes;lastly for students whose parents/guardians cannot afford expensive foods, junk food is a better solution because maybe it dosent have proper vitamins but it fills the child

    1. no because its not our choice in wat kids eat its ther money and we cant tell them how 2 spend it at school wen they get obese and over they will lear from ther mistake and will want 2 eat healthy

  8. I think you should learn to spell and let the kids Parents choose what they want their kids to Eat and if they want their kids to work out and get healthy THEY WILL MAKE THEM.
    Thank you.

  9. i think that snacks she totally be banned from schools….they are very unhealthy to the body and arent helping kids be un-obes!!

  10. if yo mamma told u to take ur lunch to school and all it had in it waz chip, chocolate chip cookies, fruit roll ups, fruit by da foot, fruit snacks and u took it cuz yo mamma told u to take to school, and when its time to eat yo lunch at school and u not allowed to eat junck food, than eat yo lunch bra,cuz if my mamma told me to eat ma lunch at school i wazn’t allowed to dan u kno dat i aint listenin to no teacher when my mamma gave ma lunch to eat at school ima eat it

    ja herd me

  11. although junk foood is not good for health but it should not be completely blaimed for obesity it should not be banned completely

    1. That is true. You have to remember that the junk food is giving empty calories but at the same time it is important to exercise or no matter what you eat you are going to be unhealthy.

      Interestingly though the empty calories are going to give you the energy to exercise but it is better quality foods that will make you feel better after that exercise and allow your body to heal

  12. I think junk food should be banned in schools because in popular magazines and on TV there are always adds saying “Eat healthy” and “5 + veggies a day” – but when you think about it …. putting junk in schools is the opposite message. This is a bad example for children!

    So ban junk food once and for all! (: x

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