It’s something rueful parents know but Ontario’s auditor general has documented—the initiative to have school cafeterias serve only healthy foods is less than successful. Rather than eat the vegetables, fruits and lean meat on offer at school students simply leave and go to the fast food restaurants nearby. Cafeteria sales have plunged by 25 to 45 per cent.
Skyrocketing obesity among Canadian children was the reason the government of the province of Ontario decided to ban foods high in fat, sugar and salt, thus eliminating foods like the favoured burgers, fries and chicken nuggets.
Almost one in three students is overweight and almost 12 per cent are obese, noted the auditor-general. That’s just about double the number in the late 1970s.
The aggressive marketing of junk food and the massive amounts of money spent by multi-nationals to make them irresistible is proving no match for school board initiatives to curb their consumption.
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