Are School Cafeterias Dishing Out Fast Food?

Fast food, as the name itself suggests, is served faster and quicker with less nutritious value. Kids are more in favor of fast foods since they savor the delicious tempting food. It is a plus point for school lunchroom management to offer best brand fast foods as kids are very familiar with them. Half of the earning is done with the brand name itself.

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Some of the well-known brands are Chick-Fil- A sandwiches, Pizza hut, Quiznos flatbreads, McDonalds burgers, Subway are introduced just to increase the business and attract more students to the cafeteria. The major reason for encouraging more revenue through distribution of fast food is that it makes them possible to cover the labor costs and other miscellaneous costs easily. But are we doing justice to our own kids without raising any questions to the management?

The food committee directors in schools are of the opinion that since half of the expenses are covered by the government, the other half has to be earned by keeping brand names in the menu to increase the revenue and keep the lunch programs running. They argue that even though those are fast foods, they meet the USDA requirements and hence are prepared keeping in mind the nutritional value.

School is a place where a child is taught values and all the good things. However if the school itself encourages them for fast food, it’s time for the school management to rethink their main purpose of educating the population in the right direction or to educate skipping nutritional value which is an important health requirement of every human being.

Children have right to basic health, caring, and protective environment for better physical and mental development. It’s not an unknown fact for any of us that junk foods are harmful and have adverse effects on our health. Health issues like childhood obesity, diabetes, and other diseases are increasing at an alarming rate. Various researches have shown that certain ingredients in processed food damage the brain as well. Good eating habits must be developed right from the school.