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Nutrition advocate: Vending machines fail students
(CNN) -- The group behind controversial health warnings about fettuccine Alfredo and movie popcorn is taking aim at vending machines in schools. The Washington-based Center for Science in the Public Interest, which has released reports on the nutritional horrors of some popular foods, said that school officials should offer alternatives to cookies, candy and sodas in vending machines. Michael Jacobson, the group's executive director, spoke Monday with CNN anchor Leon Harris about junk food in schools and about healthy snacks that could be substituted in vending machines while keeping school budgets intact. HARRIS: Is there any one constant theme that you find in all the machines in schools across the country? JACOBSON: Soda pop, chips and candy. It's junk. And what parents are doing from coast to coast is getting upset, saying, "I care about my child's health at home. I want the schools to care about my child's health when my child is under their care." And some school systems -- Philadelphia, Los Angeles, San Francisco -- are getting rid of much of the junk, especially in elementary schools. It's harder to do in high schools, but that's happening also. And they're starting with the biggest junk, which is soda pop. HARRIS: Now, why pick on the soda first? I look at machines, and I would think that you first go after things like the Twinkies or the cupcakes. JACOBSON: Well, the pop machines are the most popular. That's where kids are getting most of their junky calories from. But there's certainly honey buns and all kinds of other junky foods. So we've published a school foods tool kit to help parents and organizations improve the foods, get rid of some of the junk or all of the junk and replace it with raisins, Chex cereal mix, low-fat milk or skim milk, orange juice, some real food. Give the kids something. And some school systems have found that they don't lose money. HARRIS: Really? JACOBSON: That they make as much money selling these better foods as they did selling the junk. HARRIS: Well, what kind of real foods are these schools [finding success with]? What kind of foods are they using? Because I'm guessing, if I know any kid as I know myself and I go to a machine [and] see broccoli or carrots in there, I'm not going to buy anything in there. JACOBSON: No, they're not filling them with broccoli and carrots yet. But raisins, skim milk or low-fat milk, orange juice. There's some real foods that kids actually enjoy. Bottled water -- you'll look a little hip carrying that bottle around. And kids are buying it. And it's really unfortunate that we've come to this point where school systems, to make the budget, are selling junk to kids, undermining their students' health -- just for the sake of a few bucks. That's got to change. HARRIS: Well obviously, it's a big moneymaker. There's got to be a lot of money that's coming into these machines that would make schools think it makes better sense to keep them in. How many school systems do you know of that have actually changed over and have done like what you say is being done in Philadelphia? JACOBSON: Well, there's some big school systems. New York, Los Angeles, Oakland, San Francisco, Philadelphia, as I said, and many smaller ones. But if you think a school system like New York or Los Angeles can make these improvements, certainly any smaller school system can do the same. It takes some effort. Usually it takes pressure from the outside, from concerned parents, dentists, pediatricians. And our school foods tool kit explains to parents how they can build these kinds of coalitions, how they can propose some attractive alternatives so the schools won't go broke and really make some progress for the benefit of the kids' health. ...
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