When the Red Zone opens you may notice some of your favorite snacks are missing.

Since last school year new federal food guidelines have been put in place that will affect many of the items sold at the student ran store.

These new policies apply to all foods and beverages that are sold during the school day. The new policies limit the calories, fat, sodium, and sugar as well as establish a minimum nutritional content for new food and beverages sold during the school day and at all forms of catering (foods sold at the high school.)

The Red Zone the limitations have posed a problem for their most popular products. Some of the most popular items that will no longer be sold at the Red Zone are their baked cookies, tornados, Arizona teas, and pizza sticks.

“Most of the food and beverages that we sold last year can no longer be sold under the new guidelines.” said Neiman.

Even with these new changes there were never any thoughts of canceling the RedZone.

In place of these items will be foods categorized as “Smart Snacks,” or, foods that meet these specific guidelines. To meet these guidelines the staff have had to search for more specific snacks.

Students have been working hard to find products that they feel the customer will love just as past products, while still meeting the current guidelines.

“The ideas they are coming up make me think they will not disappoint,” Neiman said.

“Students are doing a lot of brainstorming and research to find products that our target market will buy that still meet the new nutrition standards.”

Neiman said the Red Zone does not project losses due to the policies yet, but the store will not open on its regular date in October. Nieman said every day beyond the first day of October will be considered a loss.

“I still wanted to do RedZone though I don’t agree with the new nutrition guidelines.” said Cooper Spalding, a member of Business Professionals of America and Student Store.

Even with these new changes there were never any thoughts of canceling the Red Zone.

Although these new changes were inconvenient, Nieman thinks that adapting to the new regulation has been a valuable experience for the students who run the store.