Soft Power

Childhood obesity is at an all time high and everyone is paying attention. Lack of exercise and poor diet are always to blame in cases of obesity. With children, it’s no different. However with children, multiple players have a responsibility to teach them the importance of proper nutrition and a healthy lifestyle. They cannot always be expected to make healthy decisions on their own. Parents, schools, and the government are all integral players in this process.

Children spend an average of 35 hours a week in school. Many of them eat breakfast and lunch while they are there. Schools realize the importance of providing nutritious foods and know that they play a vital role in helping kids make healthy choices. School nutrition became a major issue in the 1990s when people started noticing the increase of childhood obesity and began holding schools more responsible for the foods provided. Currently federal nutrition standards through the USDA regulate the foods served in the lunch lines. Schools must follow these guidelines to be reimbursed by the government for meal costs.

Current debates regarding school nutrition typically center around what is referred to as competitive foods. These competitive foods are referred to as such because they compete with the school foods served in lunch lines, and are typically contained in vending machines. Beginning in 1983 with what can be considered a watershed event, opening the doors to soft drinks and high calories snack foods in schools, the federal government lost the power to regulate vending machine contents in school. Since that time soft drink and snack food giants have controlled school vending machines and self-regulated their contents. With big name companies like PepsiCo and candy giant Mars competing for vending machine contracts, the regulation of the contents comes down to money.

With childhood obesity all over the news and on the minds of parents, and with the federal government now ousted from the control of competitive foods, states began to take the wheel in vending machine regulation. In 2005, many states passed legislation seriously restricting what could be sold in the nation’s schools. Some states limited which schools would have access to soft drink sales, limiting those sugary treats to older high-school students. Others put time regulations in place, only allowing students access to vending machines during certain hours of the day. This rush to school nutrition legislation included everything from time spent in physical education to the amount of deep-fried foods allowed on a school menu. Some states ignored vending machines altogether in their legislation. Because the legislation was left to the states, the guidelines and standards continue to vary greatly across the nation. While state legislation had good intentions, the lack of continuity from state to state has left many children out in the cold.

Vending machine giants are realizing that if you put a healthy choice next to a typical high sugar, high calorie snack food in the vending machine, the children typically opt for the unhealthy version. In the interest of profits these companies have been thus far reluctant to change their ways. Fear of federal regulation, however, has gotten their attention and is pushing them toward stricter self-regulation and development of healthier snack food choices.

Since the 2005 legislation and even before, there has been a grassroots effort to get the federal government again involved in the regulation of vending and other competitive foods in schools. Snack food companies feel this push and have responded with self regulation and attempts at appearing more healthy and concerned about the growing problem of childhood obesity. Essentially, the snack food industry wants to regulate themselves and show Washington law makers that federal legislation is not necessary. This growing concern is propelling them to look at creating healthier snack food options while maintaining their multi-million dollar school vending incomes.

In 2006, the American Beverage Association passed standards regulating the sale of beverages in schools, promoting a larger availability of waters, juices, and lower calorie drinks. A group of snack food companies joined forces with the Alliance for a Healthier Generation committed to finding and promoting healthier foods to today’s children. One of the goals of the Alliance, formed by a partnership of the American Heart Association and the William J. Clinton Foundation, is to keep more nutritious foods in school vending machines and cafeterias. Candy giant Mars got on board and in an effort to have snack foods that meet the Alliance’s standards have been developing a “healthier” chocolate to offer school children.

While the efforts of these snack food and vending companies should be commended, there are many who think that it is not enough. Without national standards regulating the eating habits of our nation’s children it is feared that childhood obesity cannot be aided through the schools. A battle that is obviously not over, regulation of vending machine contents in schools is a hot button topic in the struggle to slow and potentially reverse the growing problem of childhood obesity.

By: Elizabeth Renter