Ohio gets tougher on junk food peddlers

[Gary Ruskin]

Commercial Alert 				November 4, 2000

Here's a bit of good news in the effort to keep our kids safe from junk
food marketers at a time of skyrocketing childhood obesity and diabetes.

On October 13, the Ohio Department of Education issued a new policy to
ban the sale of junk food and soda pop while serving school breakfast
and lunch. 

This new Ohio policy is a step forward.  But it should be expanded to
ban both the marketing and sale of junk food on public school grounds --
at all times -- and not only in Ohio, but across the country.

Such policy would help carry out the purpose of National School Lunch
Act, which President Truman said was to "safeguard the health and
well-being of the Nation's children." 

Following is an article in yesterday's Cleveland Plain-Dealer about the
new Ohio policy.

http://www.cleveland.com/news/index.ssf?/news/pd/cc03soda.html

Sales of Pop, Candy Imperil School Funds 
by Scott Stephens

State education officials are threatening to withhold federal money from
schools that peddle pop and candy to students while breakfast and lunch
are being served.

"We felt we really needed to hit this hard," said Lorita Myles, director
of the Ohio Department of Education's Child Nutrition Services. "It is a
violation of federal policy, and it is contrary to the messages about
nutrition we are trying to send children."

Myles said her department received complaints that some schools sold
sugary sodas, chewing gum, gumdrops and other snacks of little or no
nutritional value as government-subsidized breakfasts and lunches
featuring milk and fruit were being dished out.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture allows schools to sell sugary snacks
during meal times only if vending machines or coolers are outside
cafeterias and lunchrooms or are turned off during serving hours.

The recent complaints to the Education Department prompted a strongly
worded memorandum to local superintendents from Associate State
Superintendent Hank Rubin. Rubin warned districts the state would
withhold reimbursements for free or reduced meals or expel districts
from the program if they continued to violate the policy.

Education officials declined to identify the districts they are
investigating or estimate how many schools are violating provisions of
the federal meals program.

"Schools that are selling carbonated beverages may rationalize the
action by claiming the need for increased profits," Rubin wrote to
school district leaders. "We recognize profits are alluring, but we must
ask ourselves, Are we willing to sacrifice the principles of good
nutrition and the health and well-being of our children?' "

Education officials concede that most districts adhere to the federal
guidelines. In Solon, for example, vending machines pitching pop and
candy are simply turned off during meal times, Superintendent Joseph V.
Regano said.

"That's the easiest way to handle it," Regano said.

But Solon does not have an exclusive contract with a soft drink company
pledging to push one product over another. A report released in
September by the General Accounting Office found that 200 school
districts across the nation have signed such contracts with soft-drink
giants like Coca-Cola and Pepsico.

One of those districts is North Olmsted, which in June signed a $1
million contract with Pepsi to sell its products exclusively for the
next 10 years. As part of that contract, the soft drink company will
give the district $40,000 annually for its general fund, build a
concession stand at the district's football stadium and purchase sports
equipment and other items for students. The district will also receive a
35 percent commission on all sales.

Under the North Olmsted contract, the district has control over the
number and location of vending machines and the times of day they can be
used. In elementary schools, vending machines are found only in the
teachers' lounge.

Gary Ruskin, director of Commercial Alert, a Washington, D.C.-based
watchdog group, said soft-drink contracts with schools vary greatly
across the country. But he applauded Ohio's get-tough approach.

"Kids are exposed to a parade of junk food and soda pop, so I'm happy to
hear about Ohio taking action," he said.

<----article ends here---->

FOR MORE INFORMATION:
* Read the Ohio Department of Education policy memorandum at
<http://cns.ode.state.oh.us/PDFdocs/compliance_hank_memo.pdf>.

* See Commercial Alert's web page on the marketing of junk food to
schoolchildren, at <http://www.essential.org/alert/junkfood/>, and
especially a letter to the U.S. Senate and House Agriculture Committees,
at <http://www.essential.org/alert/junkfood/aglet.html>.		


Commercial Alert opposes corporate exploitation of children and the
excesses of commercialism, advertising and marketing.  Commercial
Alert's website is at <http://www.essential.org/alert/>.

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Gary Ruskin | Commercial Alert 
1611 Connecticut Ave. NW Suite #3A | Washington, DC 20009
Phone: (202) 296-2787 | Fax (202) 833-2406
http://www.essential.org/alert/ | mailto:gary@essential.org
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