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What are kids eating at school?
| Thursday, Jan 10 2008 9:32 AM
Last Updated: Thursday, Jan 10 2008 9:40 AM
Taking aim at expanding waistlines and the health risks that grow with them, new state nutrition laws that went into effect at the beginning of the 2007-2008 school year carved fat and calories from school cafeterias, stores and vending machines.
But the new rules have come with problems of their own, including a loophole that still allows allows high-calorie lunches and some unintended consequences.
Some students think the rules are just a waste of time.
“Even though we cut down on all that, there are still going to be obese kids because they’re going to get it outside of school,” said Kaitlyn Mish, a junior at Stockdale High School.
The rules tackle snacks such as chips, sodas and candy from vending machines and school stores and a la carte entrees.
Sodas have been banned outright. And chips or other snacks are restricted to 250 calories with strict limitations on sugar and fat.
Entrees served a la carte can’t be more than 400 calories.
The loophole is that the new rules don’t affect meals sold under the federal school lunch program. Under that program, calories are averaged over the entire meal up to 850 calories.
So a 560-calorie pizza or 600-calorie taco salad, which would not be allowed as an a la carte entree, can be part of a lunch meal.
And high school students are well-versed at gaming the system, according to Mish.
They just buy two a la carte entrees if they want more than 400 calories worth of nachos or they get the pizza meal and chuck the healthy stuff.
Still, many believe the rules will help, eventually.
“I think it’s a step in the right direction,” said Sharon Briel, Kern High School District food service director. “Parents being busy, they don’t have time to help model complete meals.”
Schools did, however, see immediate results in student activities budgets, which are funded through student stores.
Soda was their No. 1 seller with a profit margin of 85 cents for every dollar.
During a typical school year, a small school such as Kern Valley High School would bring in about $7,000 and a larger school such as North High could bring in about 10 times that amount, Dennis Scott, associate superintendent for business, said.
Last school year, the first year KHSD eliminated carbonated beverages, profits in school stores plunged 30 percent, Scott said, although some of the drop was due to other factors.
With the elimination of so many a la carte items, which also brought money to student activities, Briel began offering meals through the a la carte window and boosted the price by 25 cents.
The number of students buying full meals has increased by 30 percent. But Briel doesn’t yet know if that will make up for the loss of a la carte sales.
And without vending machine candy available, school nurses are asking diabetic students to bring their own emergency sugar source, according to Amy Greene KHSD’s district nurse.
The new rules haven’t had as dramatic an effect on elementary and middle schools. At the elementary level, there are no a la carte items, said Bakersfield City School District’s Director of Food Services Brenda Robinson. And middle schoolers lost a few entrees, such as the Frito boat, which is a bag of the salty chips smothered in chili, she said.
Some implications of new nutrition rules
Soda is out. Fruit and vegetable drinks are OK if they are at least 50 percent real juice with no added sweetener. Water without sweetener is also fine as are low-fat dairy and nondairy milks such as rice or soy.
As for food, single-serving items were trimmed back leaving snacks, such as a bag of chips, at 250 calories or less with 35 percent of those calories from fat, and 35 percent of its weight from sugar. That pretty much eliminates candy and chips, except baked items.
Entree items served by themselves have to be 400 calories and four grams of fat per 100 calories or less, knocking some items such as pizza off the menu.
Source: SB 12 and SB 965