While much of the nation is taking steps to curb junk food access to school students, Texas is making its own rules courtesy of the Texas School Nutrition Policy. And they're pro-junk food.
According to Civil Eats, recent legislation (HB1781) introduced by Republican House Representative Ken King, and now in effect statewide, gives high schools "the freedom" to "continue junk food fundraisers and which expressly forbids the TDA [Texas Department of Agriculture] from fining those schools based on the food’s nutritional content. Six Republican and two Democratic representatives joined King in co-sponsoring the bill, which ultimately passed and was signed into law by Governor Rick Perry on June 14."
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In other words, junk food is now widely accessible in Texas schools. "[H]igh school students, PTOs and coaches often set up fundraising tables at lunch to sell entrees from local restaurants and fast food chains, everything from pizza to Chinese food, creating veritable “food courts” of junk food," reports Civil Eats. " Students often prefer to buy these items rather than eat in overcrowded cafeterias or go off campus, and the fundraisers are so lucrative that some principals not only turn a blind eye to them, they are rarely deterred even when TDA fines the school for a violation."
The school system was trying to approve the sale of the fast food items for lunch statewide, but fines of more than $70,000 were imposed on the TDA last year for "illegal competitive food sales." That inspired the official lobbying efforts that led to the passing of the measure, which allows high schools in Texas to sell "foods of minimal nutritional value"–a term that's defined by federal law as a food providing fewer than five percent of the daily value of certain nutritional needs. Think sodas, cotton candy, candy bars, hard candy, chips, etc. So, while the schools were seeking approval to sell fast food type meals, under the competitive food rule, they've in essence been granted permission to sell sodas and candies instead, every single day.
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Image: @tefo
