Junk food at schools must go

Baby boomers remember well when school lunch was the most nutritious — and least appealing — meal of the day. The thick, white hamburger gravy and lumpy potatoes ended up in the trash can as often as in a stomach.

In time, of course, lunch officials began making healthful meals from food students enjoyed, such as hamburgers and pizza. And that, in turn, has led to the vending machine craze — and controversy — in the schools today.

In school after school, vending machines offer up sugary soft drinks and empty calories to "student bodies" that crave Pepsi over pineapple juice.

Should public schools — that is, the government — be complicit in contributing to the obesity and ill health of teens?

Of course not.

Could vending machines pitch more healthful items and still fill a need?

Of course.

And the time has come for high school administrators to give America's students not what they want but what they need.

Last fall, Utah high schools averaged six soft drink vending machines each. Most schools, however, had but one offering juice and other healthful choices. And according to the Utah Department of Health, in Utah's junior high schools 147 out of 156 choices in vending machines are unhealthy.

It is time to put the kibosh on the trend. And the battle needs to be fought on three fronts.

First, manufacturers in the food industry need to know now is the time to offer better products to schoolkids. Earlier this summer, Kraft Foods Inc. took the lead by reviewing all its products for nutritional benefits and agreeing to eliminate in-school marketing. The company — which produces everything from Oreo cookies to Oscar Meyer wieners — will no longer display ads on school scoreboards and notebooks. Kraft still puts its product in school vending machines, however. The next step for the company will be to take accountability a step further and pull items from machines that contribute to obesity.

Kudos to Kraft. Despite cynics who claim the company simply wants to avoid lawsuits, it is doing the right thing.