any Have you ever noticed that when students ask to leave the classroom, to go to the restroom, get something from their locker or for any reason whatsoever they magically come back with chips, cookies, Gatorade, chocolates, brownies, and even tacos?
Now anyone can walk down a hallway and end up with a full course meal. However, the real question here is that, from who are students getting all of this junk food? Moreover, is the food safe for their customers? Does the food meet the safety standards and requirements?
The USDA ( U.S. Department of Agriculture) prohibited many types of foods and created new restrictions:
- Calories for snacks must not exceed 200, and 350 calories are the maximum for entrees.
- Sugar cannot exceed 35% by weight (although some fruits are excepted.)
- Sodium must not exceed 230 mg.
- Only 35% calories can come from fat
- Only 10% of saturated fat
- No trans-fat.
The school’s junk food ban, and the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act as a whole, emerged partly as a result of Michelle Obama’s campaign to end childhood obesity. The primary goal is for kids to keep healthy eating habits for a lifetime —and maybe even pass on healthier eating patterns to their parents. For that reason, many schools have closed down and removed their vending machines away from their students ever since the USDA passed the new guidelines. Also, schools banned the sale of junk food between students, for the safety of their health. Not only because they want the obesity rates to decrease, but because schools do not know what the merchandise carry in it.
Although schools stopped the selling of junk food altogether, students found a way to still make it available in school environments: food contraband. Like I mentioned earlier, the selling of junk food between students is unsafe but why do students engage in this activity? There are many reasons why students tend to enter the contraband business, but one of the most common is financial pressure. Kids who are usually in need of some quick money, can just easily sell their homemade snacks or boughten snacks and sell it at school with no competition at all.
Ultimately, the law of the land at Jimmy Carter is that junk food and other consumables are not allowed for distribution, sharing or sale.
[aesop_quote type=”pull” background=”#282828″ text=”#FFFFFF” align=”left” size=”1″ quote=”Teaching over the constant ripping and crunching of snack backs is too much!” cite=”Mr. Silva” parallax=”off” direction=”left” revealfx=”off”]