While leaving Coquitlam's TerryFox Secondary School after a recent lunch-time visit to check out its cafeteria'sfood, I remembered that one reason I left classroom teaching eight years agowas that I grew tired of trying to quell a sugar-induced rebellion after eachlunch hour. I can't imagine what it would be like now in a school promotingcandy and soda consumption. Most prominent in the Terry Fox cafeteria, wherelunch bags and apple cores qualified as endangered species, was an outbreak oflollipops and fast-food detritus*especially wrappers and cups sporting logosfrom Subway, Pizza Hut, and Coke.
In September, Terry Fox Secondarybecame the first school in B.C. to contract with various fast-food purveyors tosell lunch products on-site each day to its 1,600-plus students and staff. Thechoices include menu items from Subway and Pizza Hut, as well as genericburgers and fries, Great Canadian bagels, and sushi rolled up by a nearbyCoquitlam manufacturer.
Next to the checkout, there's arack of candy and chocolate, with more than 30 choices for sale, includinglollipops. According to principal Dave Matheson, the food court is a success.Most importantly, he said, it's a vast improvement over previous cafeteria foodthat was provided by a large food-services chain (as is the case in most schoolcafeterias), and, as a form of behaviour control, it's helping to keep studentsfrom wandering at lunch to other fast-food outlets located a few blocks away.Matheson listed other virtues of the food court: it employs union workersbehind the counter; it's breaking even; and it's affordable for the students(costing about one-third less than common retail prices).
He said he is also convinced thefood is nutritionally appropriate for students, whom he described as"discerning eaters". Coquitlam nutritionist Gerry Kasten, along forthe visit to the Terry Fox cafeteria, said kids today are more knowledgeableabout nutrition than previous generations. To test his theory, I asked a coupleof questions at a table of grades 11 and 12 girls. Maybe I'd chosen poorly, butthese girls didn't know how much fat might be in their meals. (A plainhamburger contains approximately eight to 15 grams of fat, and cheese can pushit up to 40 grams; a baked potato contains less than one gram). They alsodidn't know how much sugar they were ingesting (20 teaspoons) with each24-ounce container of pop (the only size available), and not one of them wasvery concerned about eating highly processed foods. "I'm sure it'ssafe," said one girl who also said she orders a burger, Coke, and friesabout every other day.
Art Forrester, manager of the foodcourt, said he hasn't kept hard data but he has noted that subs, burgers, andpizza are the most popular food choices among students. Subway provides aglossy countertop brochure that gives students discount coupons, as well as theonly nutritional information that's dispensed there. In October, the U.S.-basedCenter for Science in the Public Interest, a nonprofit nutritional advocacyorganization, released "Diet, ADHD, and Behavior", a report thatcharged federal agencies, professional organizations, and the food industrywith ignoring "the growing evidence that diet affects behaviour". Ina letter to Donna Shalala, secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and HumanServices, CSPI asked the department to undertake new research into the linkbetween diet and behaviour, and "to consider banning synthetic dyes infoods and other products (such as cupcakes, candies, and sugary breakfastcereals) widely consumed by children".
Liquid Candy, a 1998 CSPI report,identified soda pop as the main culprit behind rapidly increasing sugarconsumption rates worldwide that are "fueling soaring obesity rates"among youth. Other health risks cited in relation to pop consumption includetooth decay, osteoporosis, heart disease, headaches, and behaviour swingsattributed to additives such as caffeine.
The report also charged thatsoft-drink companies "target children aggressively", leading thecentre to recommend that "school systems and other organizations cateringto children should stop selling soft drinks, candy, and similar foods inhallways, shops, and cafeterias."
In contrast to Terry FoxSecondary, consider Elphinstone Secondary School in Gibsons on the SunshineCoast. In recent years, "Elphie" students, like their Terry Foxcounterparts, increasingly rejected the standard cafeteria
swill and headed out during lunchhour in search of fast food.
Last fall, the cafeteria shut downuntil two enterprising mothers answered a tender to provide food at the school.With six children between them, and experience that included large-scaleorganic gardening and logging-camp-cafeteria management, Kathryn Graydon andCindy Sutherland proposed that they could offer nutritious, fresh food thatstudents would enjoy and prefer to fast-food options. They also proposed thatthe "Elphie Eatery" could provide training for students looking forcareer-and-personal-planning credits, as well as fundraising opportunities forschool groups.
The eatery, which opened in earlyDecember, offers fresh, organic foods, most of which are grown in southwesternB.C. or Washington. Weighted in favour of vegetarian items, the varied menuincludes freshly prepared soups, salads, and whole-grained baked goods forstudents and staff. Most meals are priced between $2.50 and $4. To reducewaste, meals are served with plates and cutlery that are washed, not thrownaway.
By its sixth week, the restaurantboasted a lengthy lunch-time lineup and enthusiastic customers. "I loveit," said Grade 12 student Allie Kidd while waiting for an organic bakedpotato topped with vegetarian chili. "It's affordable and I would wayrather eat this food. I really appreciate the work and thought that's gone intothis, and I know my friends feel the same."
Appleton Alternate School in Appleton,Wisconsin, began an experiment in 1998 in which they removed pop and candymachines and offered the 107 teenage students a free flax and pineapple drinkand free whole-grain breads and bagels at breakfast and lunch. They alsostarted preparing fresh salads and vegetarian offerings for the cafeteria.Appleton principal Lu-Ann Coenen told the Georgia Straight in a phone interviewthat she believes the experiment is making a huge difference. "I wouldrather quit my job than put another pop or candy machine back in theschool," Coenen said. "The students regularly tell me they love thefood and they feel more motivated and alert because of it.
"Last year, or the first timein 20 years as a principal, I reported no incidents of violence among students,no expulsions, no cases of drug abuse, and no suicides. I attribute thisdirectly to the improved diet."
Ramona Josephson, aVancouver-based nutrition consultant with the Heart and Stroke Foundation ofB.C. and Yukon and author of The Heartsmart Shopper (Orca Books, $12.95), saidshe believes most B.C. school food is higher in fat than is healthy.
"The dietary choices we aremaking available to teens now are potentially the starting point of long-termhealth risks," said Josephson, the mother of two teenage boys for whom shepacks a daily lunch. "What they are eating now has an impact on the wholehealth-care system. I find it disconcerting that we don't put enough intoteaching teens how to lead healthy lives. We pay lip service to nutrition educationin schools."
Food in B.C. school cafeterias isevaluated every two years by a district coordinators, community nutritionists,and school principals. Cafeteria inspections focus on hygiene and safety duringfood preparation and cooking; the community nutritionists review the menu andcompare the food offered with guidelines published by Health Canada.
Coquitlam nutritionist Kasten saidhe thinks the food available in the Terry Fox food court is acceptablynutritious. He also said he believes that diet and nutrition issues for teensare complex, given the various messages teens receive about food and image."Young people need to learn to trust and respect their own bodies, whichis a message that is often contrary to what they see or hear from the media,"he said. "We should give them tools about making appropriate food choices,including filtering advertisements".
The Ministry of Education has saidthat nutrition and diet education must be available from kindergarten to Grade12, but it has left the procurement of teaching materials and lesson deliveryup to individual districts, schools,
and teachers. In some districts,regional nutritionists lead workshops, but teachers also rely on materialscreated by food producers. The B.C. Dairy Foundation, for example, has creatednumerous documents and workshops that teachers may order for classroom use.
From the foundation's Web site,teachers can download a free, animated "Calcium Calculator" createdfor adolescents and described as an "Innovation in Nutrition Education"on its opening screen. While working through the activity, which involvestallying their daily intake of calcium, students are rewarded with audiblecheers and a hearty "Congratulations!", even though they may exceed adaily recommended intake level of calcium. The recipes suggested to helpgrowing bodies meet their calcium needs include drinking milk, making soup withmilk instead of water, and melting cheese on snack foods.
Omitted from the lesson, however,is any mention of the fat content of various dairy products or of potentialhealth problems attributed to dairy consumption. Also left out is anyinformation about a lawsuit launched in the U.S. in December by the PhysiciansCommittee for Responsible Medicine, a nonprofit preventative-medicine advocacyorganization that is suing the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the federalDepartment of Health and Human Services for promoting dietary guidelines thatPCRM claims undermine the health of certain minority groups.
In its claim, the PCRM is askingthe U.S. government to acknowledge that the majority of African-, Hispanic-,Asian-, and Native-Americans are lactose-intolerant and that minorities sufferfrom higher rates of prostate cancer, diabetes, and other chronic diseases thanCaucasians. The group is also seeking to force the government to promote dietslow enough in fat and rich enough in plant products to reduce the risk of theseconditions, and it is asking the government to make dairy foods optional in itsdietary guidelines.
In the United States, McDonalds,Pizza, Hut, Subway, and other fast-food purveyors are now providing daily foodservices in hundreds of schools. Coke and Pepsi are likewise negotiating tosign up school districts to exclusive agreements and hold districts accountablefor increasing sales of pop among students in return for a cut of profits.
In B.C., Maple Ridge schooldistrict announced in December that it was signing an exclusive agreement withCoke, the details of which remain a board secret. The Maple Ridge contract isthe first of its kind among B.C. public schools; UBC and Capilano College havesigned similar deals.
Nutritionist Josephson said shethinks that it is prudent for the B.C. government to become more involved inpromoting sounder nutrition policies in BC schools.
"As a nutrition consultant,most of the heart-attack patients I see tell me they became habituated toeating fast foods in their teens. Is this what we want to foster in ourschools?
"As a mother andnutritionist," she said, "I think it is irresponsible for governmentto allow corporations like Coke or Pepsi or Pizza Hut to control what is goinginto children's bodies. This is a horrific sellout."
Michael Maser is a freelance,education-focused journalist in Vancouver, BC, Canada. He is also a formersecondary school teacher and university instructor and he is an educationconsultant with Wondertree Foundation for Natural Learning (Vancouver). Hewrites frequently about education for the Georgia Straight newspaper in Vancouverand his other education articles have been published by several dailynewspapers and ADBUSTERS magazine. He can be reached by email at