Utah school food gets F

Kentucky's school nutrition program is the best in the nation, though almost half the states — including Utah — failed to make sure that food and drinks sold in schools are healthy, according to the Center for Science in the Public Interest.

Utah was among 23 states receiving F's for policies on food and drinks sold outside of school meals.

That bad grade centers on the state's adherence to guidelines from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Those national school nutritional standards are "weak and outdated," the report said.

Along with other failing states, Utah has no rules for food sold outside of school meals beyond a federal policy limiting sales of soda and candy in the cafeteria, the study said.

Rep. Patricia Jones, D-Holladay, said she's not surprised Utah fared so poorly in the rankings. For the past four years, Jones has pushed legislation to curb junk food in school vending machines.

Her latest legislation would have required schools to stock those machines with only healthy items.

"The problem is you have a number of parents who are teaching their children proper nutrition at home, yet when they walk in the halls of the schools, they see lines of vending machines that sell just plain junk food — food that has no nutritional value," she said.

Several Utah districts have made moves to rein in sweets during school hours. Wasatch School District took unhealthy foods and drinks out of vending machines several years go and Ogden recently tweaked its policy to offer more healthy options in the machines.

Kentucky received the highest grade in the study, an A-, for its policy allowing food to be sold only a half-hour after the last lunch period. Beverages include 1 percent or fat-free milk, water, 100 percent fruit or vegetable juice, or other drinks containing less than 10 grams of sugar per serving. Food portions must be limited and be low in saturated fats, sugars and sodium.

"Although some local school districts have school foods polices that are far better than the state standards, far too many states allow way too much junk food in schools," said Margo Wootan, nutrition policy director of the Center for Science in the Public Interest.

The study concludes that a rising rate of childhood obesity and the poor state of children's diets means Congress should require the U.S. Department of Agriculture to update its national school nutritional standards.

Changes have been made in food policies as the U.S. fights childhood obesity and other health problems such as diabetes, high blood pressure and elevated blood cholesterol, the CSPI study said.