Many vending machines peddle snacks considered unhealthy under state guidelines

The Tooele County School District is doing a poor job of adhering to its own policy of reducing junk food in school vending machines, according to a recent review of the machines by the Transcript-Bulletin.

The district has a policy on vending machines that was adopted by the school board in February 2005.

"The policy doesn't eliminate all junk food but requires healthier alternatives to be present for students so they can make the choice," said Tooele County School District Superintendent Mike Johnsen.

However, the Transcript-Bulletin recently found the contents of snack and beverage vending machines at both Tooele and Grantsville High Schools indicate that the district policy is not working. Machines at both schools remain full of nutrient-poor foods that are high in sugar, fat, and calories at a time when Tooele County leads all health districts throughout the state in obesity with a 25.8 percent obesity rate, according to the Utah Department of Health.

The Tooele County School District nutritional vending policy does not allow vending machines in elementary schools. In middle schools, vending machines are only to be accessible after school lunch has been served. Vending machines in the high schools, according to the policy, "should dispense offerings of water, fruit juice or milk varieties and should limit the amount of carbonated sodas, drinks with caffeine or a high concentration of sugar, candy or chips to 50 percent of the items offered."

A look at the vending machines in the commons area at Tooele High School revealed numerous nutritionally-poor choices like Cheetos, Cinnamon Swirls, Pop Tarts, Snickers bars, M&Ms, Trolli Apple O's, Doritos, Potato Chips, Granny's Cookies, Hostess Ding Dongs, and Zingers. With a total of 70 choices between two snack machines, compliance with district policy would mean only 50 percent, or 35 of the choices, should have a high concentration of sugar or be candy or chips, and the remaining 35 choices should be healthier. The closest thing to a healthy choice were a bag of salted peanuts or a sack of fruit snacks that was high in sugar but had added Vitamins C and E.

A look at drink vending machines revealed a dominance of carbonated beverages, along with some bottled water, and a few non-carbonated, fruit-flavored beverages. While water, and in some cases flavored water, could be found, there were no real fruit juices or milk varieties. The bulk of the choices were high-caloric, sugar-laden beverages.

The labels of many of these products are deceiving. Tropicana Peach Papaya sounds like a nice fruit drink, but the label reveals that a 20-ounce bottle contains 5 percent pear juice and no peach or papaya juice. That same 20-ounce bottle holds 270 calories, 72 grams — or one third of a cup — of sugar, and no vitamin A or C.

Many of the carbonated beverages in the machines are spiked with caffeine. A 20-ounce bottle of Mountain Dew, Mountain Dew Code Red, or Mountain Dew LiveWire all contain 91 milligrams of caffeine each. A 20-ounce bottle of Pepsi has 63 milligrams of caffeine. By comparison, an 8-ounce cup of regular brewed coffee contains 95 milligrams of caffeine.

The snack machines at Grantsville High School are similarly stocked, except they substitute a few items found at Tooele with cherry gobstoppers, swedish fish, and Hostess donettes.

The battle against obesity in public schools came to the forefront again this month as the state school board pondered policy to ban the dispensing of junk food in vending machines. The school board settled for a policy that did not eliminate junk food or vending machines, but instead requires all school districts to formulate their own policy and report back on their rules to the state by January 2009.

Guidelines adopted by the state board of education at its Dec. 7 meeting allow school districts to prohibit the sale of foods of minimal nutritional value — defined as carbonated beverages, chewing gum, and candies — and limit foods for sale to no more than 300 calories per unit. The guidelines also prohibit foods that are more than 35 percent fat or foods in which more than 10 percent of the total calories come from saturated fat. Foods that contain any trans fats are prohibited. Also on the banned list are products that list caffeine as an ingredient, any product that is more than 35 percent sugar by weight, foods with a sodium content greater than 200 milligrams per serving, and beverages other than water that are larger than 20 ounces.

A bag of Trolli Apple-O's from a school vending machine at Tooele High School contains 330 calories and 63 grams of sugar — 54 percent by weight — both of which make it eligible to be banned according to the state guidelines. Likewise, the 2-ounce bag of Frito Chili Cheese Chips from Grantsville High School exceeds state recommendations with 320 calories, 20 grams of fat — or 35.2 percent by weight — and 530 milligrams of sodium.

State school board members indicated support for making their guidelines mandatory if they do not see movement towards removing foods of minimal value from vending machines that can be accessed by students.

"It is important to create a healthy environment for students, where they are able to make good choices," Luann Shapely, Utah State Office of Education child nutrition director. "We need to teach by example."

Tim Gillie: tgillie@tooeletranscript.com