HUTCHINSON (AP) –– With spring seemingly just around the corner, the push is on to eat better, exercise more and live longer and healthier lives.
Part of that fight, however, centers not on what kids are eating in the lunchroom, but on what’s in the hallway vending machines at their schools.
“We know childhood obesity has tripled since 1980 and our kids are living very different lives than they did a generation ago in terms of the amount of physical activity they get and the quantity and types of food they’re exposed to,” said Jason Eberhart-Phillips, director of the Division of Health at the Kansas Department of Health and Environment. “And one of the most important places they spend their time, most of their waking hours, is in their school environments.”
Because school districts accept federal funds for free and reduced-price lunches, the meals they serve must meet strict standards established by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. That has ensured schools are delivering good, nutritional meals, Eberhart said.
The problem with what’s offered at many schools, Eberhart-Phillips said, is the “competitive foods” offered apart from the serving lines. Those “competitive foods” are mostly what’s offered in vending machines.
One bill introduced in the Kansas Senate would require all vending machines in schools and school stores meet the “exemplary” standard of the Kansas school wellness policy.
That would mean no sugar-sweetened soft drinks. Only low-fat or skim milk, 100 percent fruit juices, water and non-caloric drinks would be allowed. Electrolyte replacement drinks meeting certain sugar standards would be allowed only near high school athletic training centers. There also would be limits on the fat and sugar content of snack foods.
Eberhart-Phillips said only 3 percent of the state’s school districts self-report their vending machines meet the exemplary standard.
The bill, however, hasn’t had a committee hearing yet and may not this session. Sen. Jim Barnett, chairman of the Public Health and Welfare Committee, where the bill was introduced, predicted the bill, now in the Education Committee, has poor prospects because it seeks to impose a policy on school districts. Although he believes in offering healthier food choices in schools, Barnett said that’s a local decision.
“I would certainly suggest beverages that are high in sugar content along with foods high in carbohydrates would be appropriate to replace with foods with higher nutritional value,” said Barnett, who also is a physician.
However, he said improving food choices would only address part of the problem. Another aspect, he said, is lack of adequate exercise.
Vending machines in the Hutchinson schools are operated by the individual schools or clubs or organizations within the schools to help fund their activities, which is one of those decisions Barnett, a former school board member in Emporia, wouldn’t want to interfere with.
At Hutchinson High School, the Student Council and Junior and Senior leadership groups benefit from a share of the revenue from five drink machines owned and managed by a beverage company. This fall, the beverage company eliminated the sugar- and caffeine-rich drinks and went exclusively to drinks such as water and fruit-flavored water and other diet drinks.
“The reality is we found our commissions dropped dramatically because the kids are not as interested in diet drinks or water,” activities director Eric Armstrong said. “But I can’t tell you the kids aren’t stopping at the convenience store on their way to school. A lot of them are doing that.”
Not all the vending machines in Hutchinson schools would meet the exemplary standard, however.
Hutchinson Middle School 8, for example, operates its own vending machine and is not under contract with a beverage company.
Assistant Principal Mark Thomas said he lets students vote periodically on what they want in the school’s one vending machine. This week, the machine offered Coke Classic, Pepsi, Sprite, Mountain Dew, Dr Pepper, Gatorade, G2, another Gatorade product with less than half the calories and sugar, and water.
Most of those products wouldn’t meet the exemplary standard. However, HMS students aren’t allowed to buy anything from the machine until after school, and Thomas figures if they couldn’t buy a drink they wanted at school, they’d just go down the street to the Dillons store to get one.
Eberhart-Phillips agrees with Barnett that improving the offerings in vending machines would be only one stop in the battle against childhood obesity. “But that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t do what we can,” he said.
“In a few years, we’ll all be looking back on 2010 saying, ‘What were we thinking, deliberately fattening up our kids to make a few hundred dollars?’ It will seem crazy to us.”
While school vending machines are unregulated in Kansas, school kitchens take pains to ensure they’re serving nutritious meals.
Four kitchens in the Hutchinson schools prepare about 3,500 lunches and 1,200 breakfasts each day, said Director of Nutrition Services Hilary Hanvey.
Hanvey spends about two weeks each month preparing daily menus for the following month. The nutritional information from labels on all the products going into those meals is entered into a computer program, along with the recipe, and software analyzes the meals and tells Hanvey the nutritional value of the meals. Then she tweaks the recipe, perhaps to lower the sodium or raise the vitamin C. Sometimes she has to change things up when her managers tell her they don’t have enough ovens or pans or hot food carts to prepare a certain meal plan.
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HUTCHINSON (AP) –– With spring seemingly just around the corner, the push is on to eat better, exercise more and live longer and healthier lives.
Part of that fight, however, centers not on what kids are eating in the lunchroom, but on what’s in the hallway vending machines at their schools.
“We know childhood obesity has tripled since 1980 and our kids are living very different lives than they did a generation ago in terms of the amount of physical activity they get and the quantity and types of food they’re exposed to,” said Jason Eberhart-Phillips, director of the Division of Health at the Kansas Department of Health and Environment. “And one of the most important places they spend their time, most of their waking hours, is in their school environments.”
Because school districts accept federal funds for free and reduced-price lunches, the meals they serve must meet strict standards established by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. That has ensured schools are delivering good, nutritional meals, Eberhart said.
The problem with what’s offered at many schools, Eberhart-Phillips said, is the “competitive foods” offered apart from the serving lines. Those “competitive foods” are mostly what’s offered in vending machines.
One bill introduced in the Kansas Senate would require all vending machines in schools and school stores meet the “exemplary” standard of the Kansas school wellness policy.
That would mean no sugar-sweetened soft drinks. Only low-fat or skim milk, 100 percent fruit juices, water and non-caloric drinks would be allowed. Electrolyte replacement drinks meeting certain sugar standards would be allowed only near high school athletic training centers. There also would be limits on the fat and sugar content of snack foods.
Eberhart-Phillips said only 3 percent of the state’s school districts self-report their vending machines meet the exemplary standard.
The bill, however, hasn’t had a committee hearing yet and may not this session. Sen. Jim Barnett, chairman of the Public Health and Welfare Committee, where the bill was introduced, predicted the bill, now in the Education Committee, has poor prospects because it seeks to impose a policy on school districts. Although he believes in offering healthier food choices in schools, Barnett said that’s a local decision.
“I would certainly suggest beverages that are high in sugar content along with foods high in carbohydrates would be appropriate to replace with foods with higher nutritional value,” said Barnett, who also is a physician.
However, he said improving food choices would only address part of the problem. Another aspect, he said, is lack of adequate exercise.
Vending machines in the Hutchinson schools are operated by the individual schools or clubs or organizations within the schools to help fund their activities, which is one of those decisions Barnett, a former school board member in Emporia, wouldn’t want to interfere with.
At Hutchinson High School, the Student Council and Junior and Senior leadership groups benefit from a share of the revenue from five drink machines owned and managed by a beverage company. This fall, the beverage company eliminated the sugar- and caffeine-rich drinks and went exclusively to drinks such as water and fruit-flavored water and other diet drinks.
“The reality is we found our commissions dropped dramatically because the kids are not as interested in diet drinks or water,” activities director Eric Armstrong said. “But I can’t tell you the kids aren’t stopping at the convenience store on their way to school. A lot of them are doing that.”
Not all the vending machines in Hutchinson schools would meet the exemplary standard, however.
Hutchinson Middle School 8, for example, operates its own vending machine and is not under contract with a beverage company.
Assistant Principal Mark Thomas said he lets students vote periodically on what they want in the school’s one vending machine. This week, the machine offered Coke Classic, Pepsi, Sprite, Mountain Dew, Dr Pepper, Gatorade, G2, another Gatorade product with less than half the calories and sugar, and water.
Most of those products wouldn’t meet the exemplary standard. However, HMS students aren’t allowed to buy anything from the machine until after school, and Thomas figures if they couldn’t buy a drink they wanted at school, they’d just go down the street to the Dillons store to get one.
Eberhart-Phillips agrees with Barnett that improving the offerings in vending machines would be only one stop in the battle against childhood obesity. “But that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t do what we can,” he said.
“In a few years, we’ll all be looking back on 2010 saying, ‘What were we thinking, deliberately fattening up our kids to make a few hundred dollars?’ It will seem crazy to us.”
While school vending machines are unregulated in Kansas, school kitchens take pains to ensure they’re serving nutritious meals.
Four kitchens in the Hutchinson schools prepare about 3,500 lunches and 1,200 breakfasts each day, said Director of Nutrition Services Hilary Hanvey.
Hanvey spends about two weeks each month preparing daily menus for the following month. The nutritional information from labels on all the products going into those meals is entered into a computer program, along with the recipe, and software analyzes the meals and tells Hanvey the nutritional value of the meals. Then she tweaks the recipe, perhaps to lower the sodium or raise the vitamin C. Sometimes she has to change things up when her managers tell her they don’t have enough ovens or pans or hot food carts to prepare a certain meal plan.
