California’s School Junk Food Ban Takes Effect

California's School Junk Food Ban Takes Effect

Legislation to reduce the amount of junk food and soft drinks sold in California schools will take effect on July 1, 2007, making California’s school nutrition standards the strongest in the nation.

Sacramento, California (PRWEB) June 25, 2007—California’s school junk food ban SB 12 will go into effect on July 1, limiting the fat content, sugar content and portion size of all foods sold on public school campuses.

“California is facing an obesity epidemic. Over the last decade Californians have gained 360 million pounds and one in every three of our children is overweight. This dangerous trend is unacceptable,” said Governor Schwarzenegger, one of the lead sponsors of the bill.

Additionally, California’s healthy beverages bill (SB 965) which will also take effect on July 1, will require that half of the beverages sold to high school students are fruit-based, vegetable-based, water, milk products, or electrolyte replacement beverages that contain no more than 42 grams of added sweetener per 20-ounce serving—therefore limiting the proportion of soft drinks sold to students.

With the junk food ban and healthy beverages bills poised to take effect, California’s public schools will soon have the strongest nutrition standards in the nation. "California has done more to promote healthy eating for students than at any other point in our state's history. We've reclaimed schools as institutions of education, rather than as marketplaces for junk food and soda vendors," said Dr. Harold Goldstein of the California Center for Public Health Advocacy (CCPHA), which helped advocate for the bills.

While many public health agencies including the American Cancer Society, the American Heart Association, the California Academy of Family Physicians, the California School Nutrition Association supported the bill, some advocacy groups, including The Association of Food, Beverage, and Consumer Beverage Products opposed it.

“We are disappointed that the State of California has decided to implement legislation that will provide no nutrition education while curtailing the authority of local school districts to decide what foods and beverages should be available to their students. Despite arguments to the contrary, our concern is that SB 12 and SB 965 will do little, if anything, to address the serious issue of obesity among children and young adults. This is especially true for high school students who can leave campus during lunch periods,” said Steve Arthur, Vice President of Government Affairs for the association.

Sponsors of the school junk food ban and healthy beverages bill hope that they will help increase students’ access to healthy foods and ultimately decrease the amount of overweight children in the state. Currently, in California, about one in three children and one in four teens is at risk or already overweight.

“California has set a new national standard for protecting children," said SB 965 and SB 12 author Senator. Martha Escutia. "Today we have taken a bold step in addressing the child health and obesity crisis. By addressing what is sold on school campuses, we have put control back in the hands of parents where it belongs."

For more information on the school junk food ban or health beverages bill, please visit the CCPHA website.

About CCPHA:

The California Center for Public Health Advocacy is an independent, nonpartisan, nonprofit organization founded by the California Public Health Association-North and the Southern California Public Health Association.

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