Some kids cannot wait to get to school to pick up their powdered donuts or sugary cereal from the cafeteria for a quick breakfast before class. However, the Smart Snack program through the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) has set limits to what type of food that students can purchase at school.
Due to the guidelines prohibiting certain amounts of calories, sugars, fats, and saturated fats in the program, the Smart Snack program is a complete and utter waste of time, money and resources. But what qualifies food as a Smart Snack?
The Smart Snack program was initiated out of the Healthy Hungry Free Kids Act in 2010, started to address disparities in access to healthy food for low income children. Signed by former President Barack Obama, the goal of the Act is to promote and distribute foods with more whole grains, fruits and vegetables.
However, in terms of demand for snacks and small beverages, they take up almost 90% of the diet of all high school students, according to the information from the USDA. Although Smart Snacks have higher standards, the progress that will occur due to these new laws will not be enough.
The Smart Snack program is going to continue to take control of the foods distributed into vending machines, school and sport concessions, and also even fundraisers that take place at schools after school hours.
While there are healthy alternatives to plenty of food groups that substitute snacks and non Smart Snack foods, the most commonly consumed food group is snacks in the high school setting. Implementing new standards and offering stricter nutritional standards will ultimately hurt student culture.
Although the Smart Snack program may help in schools, it cannot have control outside of the classroom. According to Smart Snack regulations, the food eaten in schools makes up close to a quarter of the children’s caloric intake.
On average, a high school student should be consuming close to 3,500 calories per day, and the Smart Snack regulations suggest that students get close to 875 calories per school day. The guideline states that a snack should be 200 calories and entrees should be 3,500 calories.
If an average student skips breakfast, which 25% of students do according to the National Institutes of Health, and eats two snacks, that still does not meet the full requirements of the meals that should be consumed in school time.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, only 28.5% of high school students consume fruit and 33% consume vegetables on a daily occurrence.
And even when it comes to exemptions, there is no sound argument that the high school population would enjoy them. A list of certain dietary restrictions include dried fruits with no added sugars, apples with reduced-fat cheese, celery with peanut butter, and seafood with no added fat, just to add a few.
Striving for the health of American children and teenagers, the Smart Snack Program is a step into the right direction, but not without its many flaws. The alternative should be to find better tasting, healthier, and more appealing foods for students.
