NJ Governor Tries to Ban children from Eating Junk Food

New Jersey decided to prevent schools from selling foods children want to eat by the sale of soda and "junk foods" in its schools as of the start of the 2007 school year. Governor Richard J. Codey said that the state school districts will be required to adopt a comprehensive statewide policy banning the sugary products. This will cost the districts more money and divert resources from the classroom to the extra administrators.

The policy, instituted through administrative fiat, rather than by the state's elected officails, will cover food items sold in vending machines, cafeteria, a la carte lines, snack bars, school stores, fundraisers and the reimbursable After School Snack Program.

No more selling candy door-to-door for fundraisers. Instead children will probably be selling potatoes and carrots for fundraisers. "Schools are where children spend most of their time," Codey said in a statement. "Instead of encouraging bad eating habits and bad health with the easy accessibility of candy and soda, schools must be a place where we teach good nutrition and lay the foundation for good eating habits." By Sept. 1, 2006, school districts will have to adopt a school nutrition policy and by Sept. 1, 2007, the policies will have to match the Model School Nutrition Policy as written in the amended Nutrition Rule, in a continuation of a long ist of unfunded state mandates imposed upon school districts.