Junk Food Infiltrating Schools

So-Called 'Competitive' Foods Available In 9 of 10 Schools

(AP) 
At issue are so-called competitive foods — snacks such as candy, soda, pizza and popcorn available in a la carte lines in cafeterias, in vending machines and in school stores. Apples and milk are also competitive foods, but the GAO said candy and other junk food crowds out healthier stuff in vending machines and school stores. Competitive foods are largely unregulated.

The Agriculture Department had restricted sales of competitive foods until a 1983 federal court ruling, in a lawsuit by the National Soft Drink Association, limited its regulation to food service areas such as cafeterias during mealtime.

Schools raise substantial dollars from selling competitive foods; 30 percent of high schools raised more than $125,000 annually. The GAO said it was unclear how much competitive food sales benefited school groups and how much benefited school food service.

The GAO sampled schools that participate in the Agriculture Department's federal school lunch program, which subsidizes school meals and regulates their nutritional content. Those meals have to follow the government's dietary guidelines, which call for eating more fruits, vegetables and whole grains and less calories, fat, added sugars and sodium.

The GAO reported that of 656 schools in its sample, 51 percent of principals and school food directors responded to a Web-based survey. Investigators also traveled to six school districts that have tried to substitute healthier choices for less nutritious foods. The survey's margin of error was plus or minus 15 percentage points.

The GAO report, scheduled for release Wednesday, found:

Nine in 10 schools sell competitive foods from vending machines, cafeteria a la carte (snack) lines and school stores.

Vending machines were available in almost all high schools and middle schools but in less than half of elementary schools.

In one-third of schools, sweet baked goods, salty snacks and other less-nutritious foods were available in cafeteria snack lines.

Schools often sold competitive foods at lunchtime, in the cafeteria or nearby, allowing kids to buy them for lunch or to supplement their lunches.

Three-quarters of high schools have exclusive soft drink contracts. Sixty-five percent of middle schools have exclusive beverage contracts, up from 26 percent five years ago.

• Previous
• 1
• 2

©MMV The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

Share:

Digg

Facebook

Yahoo! Buzz

Twitter

Mixx

More From Health

• Few in U.S. Make End-of-Life Wishes Known
• Scientists Hope to Re-Grow Human Breasts
• CDC Raises H1N1 Flu Death Toll to 4,000
• Ashton Answering Your Questions
• Where Germs Hide
• Chemical In Plastic Linked to Impotence
• CVS Settles Expired Product Lawsuit

• 

  VideoHope for Breast Cancer Survivors?

• 

  VideoWounded Soldier's New Chapter