We seem to have a series on education this week, and today’s entry looks at what used to be an institution in learning institutions: the bake sale. A policy panel of the Department of Education in New York City has unanimously approved a policy change that will ban the sale of home-baked cakes, brownies, and cookies, but will allow the sale of Pop-Tarts, packaged cookies, and Doritos.
In what is truly a WTF? move, the city is attempting to ensure healthier foods available for purchase — the rules specify maximum calorie counts, maximum fat levels, and such, and ban homemade items because “it’s impossible to know what the content is, or what the portion size is.”
And, yet, it simply seems ludicrous to forbid dad’s zucchini bread and mom’s cranberry cookies, but to allow Pop-Tarts and Chips Ahoy. A kid won’t be able to buy a mini-loaf of multigrain health bread, but can snag four bags of Doritos.
Yes, that makes sense.
Ms. Puccini, whose children attend the Children’s Workshop School in the East Village, said the regulation appeared to be a “blatant attempt by food companies such as Pepsi-Cola and Kellogg’s to reap enormous profits at the expense of our children” — an opinion shared by many of the more than 200 readers who commented on an In the Schools item on City Room this week outlining the policy. Ms. Puccini added that the school should focus on eliminating the high-fructose corn syrup in many cafeteria items.
Indeed. The Department of Education should not be trying to regulate this stuff. It needs to look to make its mark elsewhere.
2 comments:
That rings a bell... someone on the panel must have read thisthis story last year, and thought it was a fine idea
Similar... but somewhat different. The PA story you point to brings up a sanitation issue, assuming that homemade food might have been made in unsanitary conditions. The NYC thing is a nutritional content issue.
Both are probably silly, but the NYC one is sillier.
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