Tuesday, April 12, 2011

Should schools ban home-packed lunches?

There was an article published in the Chicago Tribune about one school banning all home-packed lunches except for medical conditions or food allergies (which itself is a medical condition, but I digress), and allowing only school-served meals.

The local morning show talked about it as well, and polled viewers if this should be the case. At last check, the results were 80% to 20% against. And the story has launched a debate across the Internet – The article’s link on Fark.com was a multiple choice question, stating “Chicago school bans a) soda in school, b) peanuts, or c) bagged lunches from home”, and sporting an “asinine” tag to launch its comments.

One morning that I was home I caught an episode of Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution, which focuses on the unhealthy choices offered to children through over-regulated school meal programs. It was appalling, to say the least, and the school involved in the episode didn’t like the attention. It seems par for the course, as Jamie Oliver hit a similar snag with the Los Angeles Unified School District – reported here by Fox News.

So what do you think? Is the whole thing a good idea or not?

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