Taking the Junk Food out of Vending Machines

In recent weeks, the Obama administration has made monumental strides towards changing the nutritional value of food served to children during the school day. Although most of the efforts have been contained to what is being served inside the cafeteria, there is now a new push to change what children are buying outside of it.

Past efforts to “restrict the food that schoolchildren eat outside the lunchroom have long been controversial” – this is because vending machines bring in profit for school districts and this profit is subsequently used to pay for sports, music and arts programs (NY Times).

So would an effort to remove junk food from vending machines result in less music programs in schools? Not exactly.  It’s inevitable that if a child is given a choice between a healthy snack or a bag of potato chips in a vending machine they will likely choose the second; however, if all of the unhealthy options are eliminated from the machines “children could still be persuaded to eat healthy foods and schools could still make a profit”.

The NY Times article I’ve posted below illustrates more in depth about the proposed plan by the Obama administration – if you’re interested in school nutrition and/or  recent efforts on combating the childhood obesity epidemic it’s definitely worth checking out.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/21/us/politics/new-rules-planned-on-school-vending-machines.html?_r=1&ref=health

(On a side note: The University of Michigan has already implemented measures towards making its’ students more aware of the healthier options in their vending machines. All healthy options are designated with an “M” sticker – hopefully this measure has already made it easier for students to make healthier decisions).