Today a boy in one of my classes had a soda on his desk, and it sparked the conversation: Our School’s Policies on Soft drinks. As students our accessible vending machines are not on until after lunch, and “Vending machines must contain at least 50% water and no/low calorie options”. I love the idea of informing the public about nutrition, though I have to wonder, are the restrictions all about money? Phrases like “Schools are prohibited from selling/providing any food or meal that is in competition with the scheduled school meal”, and “Schools may not schedule sales immediately before or after meals that would compete with the meal service. If such sales should occur, all income generated must be deposited into the Child Nutrition account.” lead me to believe there are alternative reasons for restrictions on what we as students can consume. If caught selling soda’s I’ve read of many cases where the school is fined $15,000 dollars, a bit excessive don’t ya think? Making the option available for healthier alternatives sounds great, and I believe should be encouraged. As a high school student however, I believe we should be given some choices and real information, not restrictions, we will be making decisions for our self very soon. Maybe things like the quality of lunch meat should be a higher priority considering we don’t have the choice to choose the meat (my post tomorrow will be on school lunch meat and it’s poor quality).
nasbe.org/healthy_schools/hs/bytopics.php?topicid=3115 (National Association of State Board of Eduation)
http://www.fns.usda.gov/fns/Default.htm (food and nutrition services)
Thoughtsfromtheteenagemind 