By Leslie Terres – Staff Reporter

Many students have noticed a snack change in the vending machine this year at Jonathan Law.

The snack selection in the vending machine has become a lot healthier. More snacks are whole grain and some unhealthy snacks were removed.

Not all students were excited about the change.

“Where are my fruit snacks?” junior Alessandra Baez said.

Many students wondered why the school made these changes and said that they preferred a mix of healthy and sugary snacks.

“Who cares about being healthy?” junior David Fraga said.

Some students made it very clear that they are not happy about the change. They also wondered who was responsible for the switch.

Food service manager Barbara Mazucco said that “the change was mandatory; it was a state requirement.”

The “Kids Safe Healthful Foods Project” is a new project in the U.S. to make school foods healthier.

Their research says that while some schools and districts have set nutrition standards, current guidelines from the U.S. Department of Agriculture haven’t been updated in more than 30 years. Because of this, the majority of students attend school in states where a wide variety of less healthy food options are available to them every day.

According to the project’s website, kids consume half of their daily calories while in school, and by average, school snacks add 112 calories more than the student should have consumed that day.

Philadelphia, New York city, Mississippi, and California have all reported declines in childhood obesity rates using this program. All of these locations have nutrition standards for school snacks, foods, and beverages.

The site reports that 80 percent of American voters favor national nutrition standards that would limit calories, fat, and sodium in snack foods sold in U.S. schools and encourage the consumption of fruits, vegetables, and low-fat dairy products.

Children and teens gained less weight over three years if they lived in a state with strong policies on school snacks than if they lived in a state without such standards. With about 1 in 3 children in America today struggling with obesity, these government regulations hope to make a change.

At Law, some popular “unhealthy” snacks were replaced with whole grain options this year. Other options now come in smaller packages.

“I think the school snacks are a good idea because they’re healthier than they were last year and they’re in smaller packages, which deter people from buying more because they would have to go to the vending machine twice,” junior Ian Hugo said.

(Photo courtesy Leslie Terres)