Schools May Begin Offering Healthier Snacks to Kids

A state health committee is deciding on the possibility of having all Arkansas schools stock vending machines with healthy snacks. The discussions follow a state law that passed this spring, that created the Child Health Advisory Committee. Its job is to help develop nutrition and physical activity standards for the states 450,000 public school children. Under the law, starting this school year, elementary school students cannot have access to vending machines on campus. The committee also wants to evaluate the contents and nutritional value of the items sold in the machines. The panel will require schools to disclose how much they make from those machines and the soft-drink contracts, and how that money is spent. Some schools already have taken steps on their own. El Dorado Superintendent Bob Watson says vending machines at his districts schools serving seventh through 12th grade students were changed midway through last school year to offer healthier items. Soda machines now offer only diet sodas, bottled water and fruit juices that arent high in sugar. Snack machines have switched to items such as granola bars and pretzels rather than honey buns and chocolate cookies.