The Virginian-Pilot
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Jelly beans. Lollipops. Flamin' Hot baked Cheetos.
Public school students may not be able to buy snack foods like those under a state proposal meant to help fight childhood obesity.
The proposed regulations set nutritional guidelines for so-called "competitive foods" - those items that compete with meals offered through the federal school breakfast and lunch programs. They include foods purchased a la carte in the cafeteria, from vending machines and school snack bars, and through fundraisers.
"We're really pleased that there will be consistent rules throughout the school day," said Lynne Fellin, the Virginia Department of Education's associate director of school nutrition programs.
The proposal, which at the earliest would go into effect in the 2012-13 school year, is based on nutrition standards set by the national Institute of Medicine. It limits snack items to 200 calories per portion, with no more than 35 percent of total calories from fat. Limits also are placed on sugar and sodium content. Chewing gum, jelly beans, lollipops and other "foods of minimal nutritional value" are banned altogether.
Foods that are given to students during the school day - such as teacher-provided treats or cupcakes for a class party - aren't covered by the regulations. Nor are foods sold to students outside regular school hours.
Dr. Robert Gunther, immediate past president of the Virginia chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics, called the proposal "a great first step in improving school nutrition." In practice for more than 20 years, Gunther said a greater percentage of the children he sees these days are overweight or obese.
What the regulations mean for local school systems isn't completely clear yet.
Virginia Beach schools spokeswoman Kathy O'Hara said the proposed nutrition guidelines would probably have the most impact on school stores and student organizations that raise money by selling food items.
When presented with the state proposal last month, members of the Virginia Board of Education were most concerned with what wasn't included. The 2010 General Assembly action that prompted the regulations specifically excludes all beverages, including sodas.
Board member Rob Krupicka said the guidelines have the potential to create frustration for parents.
"Mom's gotta figure out how to count calories in her cupcakes" for the local bake sale, he said, "but the guys who sell soda professionally and already know how many calories are in it don't have to be included."
Local school divisions already have some limitations on which beverages can be sold to students. In Virginia Beach middle schools, for example, water and 100 percent juice are the only beverages allowed for sale, other than those served as part of the breakfast and lunch programs. Beach high school students have more options, including diet carbonated soft drinks.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture likely will tackle beverages when it develops regulations for competitive foods later this year, said Helen Phillips, president for the national School Nutrition Association. For now, she said, the guidelines proposed by the state send children the right message: It's OK to have a candy bar, but save it for an event or special occasion, not for every school day.
Phillips also is senior director of school nutrition for the Norfolk school division. Her food services program operates vending machines in the secondary schools. The items for sale are no more than 300 calories each and the fat limit is more restrictive than what the state has proposed.
The Suffolk school division, like others, sells reduced-fat cookies, ice cream and other a la carte items in its cafeterias to support the food services fund, which is part of the operating budget.
"At this point, it is difficult to accurately project how the proposed guidelines will affect the district financially," Suffolk public schools' food services supervisor Brian Williams wrote in an email.
Williams said the sodium restriction - no more than 200 milligrams per portion - will pose the biggest challenge. Under that standard, he would need to nix some of the most popular items, including Andy Capp's Hot Fries and Flamin' Hot baked Cheetos.
Otherwise, Williams said, the division's wellness policy mostly matches what's proposed. "It's hard to say, but I think we're in a good position right now because we have made changes early on."
Hattie Brown Garrow, (757) 222-5562, hattie.brown@pilotonline.com
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it wont work
I am all for making our kids healthy but seriously, what is going to stop these kids from going to some convenience store and buying 2 bags of hot fries for the same price it takes to get one at a school vending machine. how many people will pay vending machine price for a cardboard tasting granola bar.
a better option will be to provide more health food for the fitness conscious, and let those who want to pig out get fat. it doesn't matter if they ban everything except tofu, if someone wants to get fat they are going to get fat and there is nothing that the school system can do. it is the parents responsibility to know what there kids eat, not the governments.
last i checked, the schools were having a pretty tough time
of teaching the three "R's". Why is it the schools have plenty of money to become food police? I'm glad my youngest will be graduating from high school this year. I have noticed that few of his class mates have weight problem especially to the point of being obese. In this day and age of tighter budgets and cut backs maybe it's time to cut some of these high paying "Virginia Department of Education's associate director of school nutrition programs" jobs. Let's start making good use of our tax dollars that go to education. Once we do that we'll probably find we have a rather large surplus in education funding.
Considering that
the majority of people are to lazy to do the right thing when it comes to eating properly and making sure their kids eat properly or they lack the funds to do so ( eating healthy is twice as costly as it is to eat all the bad stuff ) and we have a growing epidemic of obesity in this country this is why the government is stepping in to lessen the problem at the school level. This has been effective in school districts where it has been implemented already and has had other positive effects to include improved grades and social behavior.
I agree about most people
I agree about most people are too lazy to eat right but I don't buy the part about healthy eating costing more.
A jumbo bag of chips costs the same or more as a pound of frozen mixed vegetables or fresh apples or bananas. A half gallon of milk or juice costs about double or more what a 2-liter bottle of coke costs but the soda does nothing for you... drink some milk or juice and drink tapwater too (healthy and practically free). Or get frozen concentrate juice or powdered milk... aww, those take actual WORK to prepare. By far the cheapest breakfast cereal out there is plain old oats... but I'm afraid the packaging isn't very exciting and there are no cartoon characters hopped up on sugar trying to sell plain oats.
Sheesh!
Uhh, I can't quote prices but
Since I have been trying to eat more heathily (is that a word) I can testify that it is more expensive. Judging by my grocery bill.
News flash people
News flash - - - Mom & Dad are responsible for letting little Jimmy and Jenny get fat at HOME. Who cares what is sold, pitched, or vended at school. It shouldn't take silly Big Govt legislation to leave a couple soda and vending machines open throughout the school day. Fill it up once a day. Kids will regulate themselves. Once they are empty, that's it for the day. How many brain cells did I burn to come up w/ that piece of legislation? One...
Jelly beans. Lollipops.
Jelly beans. Lollipops. Flamin' Hot baked Cheetos. Why are schools selling this junk to start with? Stop selling all junk food at schools. If parents pack it in their lunch that is one thing. We never had this junk at school, nor any of the junk they call food in the cafateria's today. The schools need to set an example that the parents refuse to set.
This is all bologna
Kids cannot get fat in the brief time they have to eat at school. Especially, if they are anything like I was, food was the least important thing at lunch time. It was more about hangin' with friends and cutting up. Also, since when is it the government's business how much my kids weighs? Butt out of my life!
Really
guess that you haven't been in school in decades then and you don't look at the labels on the snacks and other junk thats sold at the schools. A 12 oz can of pop averages 140 calories, 271 calories in a regular candy bar, king size is twice that, 458 in a package of skittles, 284 in twix. The average kid eats a bag of chips plus two candy bars and two cans of soda before at or after school not including breakfast and school lunch and dinner. A high schoolers stay awake fix usually consists of a one liter of mountain dew and a large bag of skittles so your looking at 885 calories downed in about 20 minutes and thats almost half of what a 15 year old of average height and weight needs to eat to maintain a healthy weight daily.
Not one thing you mentioned
refutes my point. If a kid knocks down two sodas (unlikely) and two candy bars at lunch that amounts to about 900 calories. Obesity depends on more than caloric intake. If it were dependent upon JUST caloric intake Michael Phelps (12,000 calories per day) would be the fattest person in the world. If the government were REALY concerned about the health of our kids they would develop a COMPLETE program, not just focus on a single component.