CODE CHANGE
The food and drug administration has implemented new standards for nutrition in schools.
THE DEAD ZONE: Though the RedZone plans to open in two weeks with a new line of products, new regulations bring the RedZone to a “dead” stop.
According to the World Health Organization, 74.1 percent of Americans are medically pronounced ‘obese.’
This year, schools around the nation are taking nutritional action and considering what they are offering to their students to take aim at obesity.
As an effort to improve health and general well-being in the school system, a nationwide program called “Smart Snacks” was launched.
Smart Snacks aims to limit the junk foods schools are selling at locations like the SHS student store, the RedZone, and á-la-carte.
Not only will students see differences in lunch catering, but other food sales such as fundraisers are now being limited by this new federal rule.
An example of such limitations are that no fundraiser can extend beyond a four-day period, among others.
There are, indeed, exemptions that fit into the agenda, however. According to the USDA website, “the school must apply for a maximum of 10 exemptions [for fundraisers] from the new limitations.”
Fundraisers such as the Cedar Post muffins, and the dance team lollipops are now subject to an arduous application process, which has put these fundraisers beyond the reach of both organizations.
The agenda put in place by the USDA for in-school catering has its own set of guidelines as well. These include the hours in which items may be sold under limitations (midnight of the day before to thirty minutes after the conclusion of the school day), thus, concessions at sporting events are not subject to these limitations because the concessions occur outside of school and beyond the limited period of time.
The RedZone was sent into a bit of a scramble with the implementation of the requirements related to the sale of items in the school system as well.
Previous favorites such as pizza sticks and fresh baked cookies do not meet the many new requirements, including being less than 200 calories or qualifying as a ‘whole grain-rich’ food (meaning that the product has whole grain in the one of the first three ingredients).
Melinda Nieman, the overseer of the student store staff at the high school, is currently experiencing some of the challenges that come with finding healthy, and inviting food to sell to teenagers. “Our product line for this year will look a lot different [than] in the past.”
More facts regarding the specific situation of the RedZone are available on page two of this issue.
Preston Cole is a senior and is Editor-in-Chief of the Cedar Post. Preston takes photos (mostly with his favorite lens, the Nikon 50mm) and writes online and...
Cooper King is a senior and is Editor-in-Chief for the Cedar Post. This is his third year on staff; previously he took on the roles of Photo Editor and...
