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Measure Aims to Crack Down on Junk Food in Schools

Posted on: Sunday, 16 April 2006, 18:00 CDT

WASHINGTON _ Sixth-grader Vincent Yeung of Sun Prairie, Wis., says he drinks Mountain Dew "only sometimes" and snacks "on special occasions" on chips like the Fritos available at his school.

His mother tells a different story about her 11-year-old's junk food habits at school. "Always!" said Fan Jiang, 46, on a recent visit to Washington. Vincent shrugged sheepishly.

Nutrition activists have been trying since 1994 to get soft drinks and junk food out of the reach of kids such as Vincent, who may find snacks and soda for sale in their cafeteria, vending machines and school stores. But with the help of the beverage and snack food lobby, opponents have blocked the efforts.

This time, supporters hope that bipartisan backing for a school junk food bill, coupled with a new awareness of the nation's skyrocketing obesity and diabetes rates, will make 2006 the year efforts to boot products like Coca-Cola become the real thing.

The bill faces an uphill battle, given the opposition of beverage and snack food trade groups, which say the industry's voluntary guidelines for limiting sales in schools make the legislation unnecessary.

"The industry's not going to support a bill that's not showing results," said Lisa Katic, a consultant to the food and beverage industry, adding that the emphasis should be on getting kids to exercise.

But supporters say the legislation is badly needed, and they hope it will draw new attention to the national conversation about nutrition, health and children.

The bill, introduced in early April by Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, would require the Department of Agriculture to update its definition of "foods of minimal nutritional value," the standard that tells schools what they can sell in cafeterias.

Critics say those 1979 guidelines are badly out of date. Unlike 27 years ago, much of the food at high schools and middle schools is sold outside the cafeteria in vending machines or at on-campus stores and snack bars, according to a Government Accountability Office study.

"A student only needs to walk outside of the lunchroom and into the hall to buy a lunch of a 20-ounce soda, a bag of chips or a candy bar," Harkin said in early April. "That is a loophole big enough to drive, if you'll pardon the expression, a Coca-Cola delivery truck through _ and it's time to close it."

He added: "If junk food is junk food during the lunch hour, isn't it junk food at 2 p.m. or 3 p.m. or 9 a.m.?"

The current guidelines also require that school food contain certain nutrients, rather than minimizing calories, saturated fat, trans fat, added sugar and other unhealthy items. According to the Center for Science in the Public Interest, a food and nutrition lobbying group which supports the bill, seltzer water is forbidden under the guidelines while candy bars, cookies and potato chips are allowed.

"Thirty years ago it was a valid concern whether kids were getting enough iron or calcium," said center spokesman Jeff Cronin. "Now the concern is, are they getting too much sugar or calcium? Are they getting too much saturated fat and trans fat?"

In 1983, a federal court ruled that the agriculture secretary had exceeded his authority by trying to regulate sales in schools by time and place. Harkin's bill would give the secretary that power.

Nationwide, many local school systems have already moved to limit or ban junk food, as have states like California and New Jersey, although the great majority of schools permit it. But a move in mid-April by Gov. Rod Blagojevich to limit junk food in Illinois grade schools was rebuffed by a legislative review panel. Chicago's 613 public schools ban soda, candy and fried chips from being sold anywhere on school grounds, no matter the grade level, said spokesman Mike Vaughn.

Snack and beverage groups say such efforts send the wrong message to the nation's young people without tackling the root cause of obesity and health problem _ an increasingly sedentary lifestyle that discourages regular exercise.

"Food has been around forever," said Katic, the industry consultant. "But the change in the activity is to me what's most dramatic. It's easier to pick on food because it's something visual and tangible."

Industry representatives also say total bans are ill-advised because even so-called junk food, consumed in moderation, can be part of a nutritious, healthy diet. "And yes, there is room in that mix for soft drinks," the American Beverage Association Web site says.

The beverage association last year adopted voluntary guidelines in part to pre-empt tougher legislation. The guidelines ban soft drinks in elementary schools and limit them to 50 percent of drink offerings in high schools.

"If they have a soft drink, they need to make up those calories either through physical activity or through other places in their diet," said Kevin Keane, a spokesman for the beverage industry. "That's the best way to help out children _ to equip them with information so they understand how to eat any food."

Keane also pointed to an industry-funded study that shows that soda purchases are on the decline in schools.

But Harkin and the bill's supporters, noting that children will gravitate toward flashy marketing, said voluntary guidelines are not enough.

"When parents send their kids to school with lunch money, they shouldn't have to worry about whether or not the child is going to buy a balanced school meal or instead make their lunch out of Flaming Cheetos and a Coke," said Margo Wootan, director of nutrition policy for the Center for Science in the Public Interest.

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(c) 2006, Chicago Tribune.

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ARCHIVE PHOTOS on KRT Direct (from KRT Photo Service, 202-383-6099): Tom Harkin

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Source: Chicago Tribune

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