Should Junk Food Be Banned from Schools?

Junk food refers to food that contains high amount of trans-fats in the form of sugar and salts but with little or no nutritional content (Damle, 2012). With the younger generation being attracted to junk foods, they will be suffered from multiple ill effects like diabetes, heart diseases, obesity, and dental caries. Since food and beverage marketing actions are prevalent and potentially detrimental to kids, preventing obesity and promoting healthy lifestyle are the challenging concerns (Uribe & Fuentes-Garcia 2013). School is where children spend most of their time and also the place to bring up healthy habits. Therefore, banning junk food in schools has become a popular topic among scholars. Researchers who support the banning action believe that school is the conscious and effective place for children to evade unhealthy food while the opponents argue that students should be trusted to make choices about their meal (Devi, Surender & Rayner, 2010). The essay begins with the survey indicating the facts of consuming junk food in school and then introduce the previous scheme about banning junk food. Eating habits developed at an early age could cause a lifetime of health consequences. It seems that schools should take the responsibility to let students stay away from junk food.

In pace with the increasing awareness on children health, significant countries have been implemented regulations on junk food. New jersey is the first state to introduce a comprehensive school nutrition policy that bans junk food in 2005. The government of United Kingdom also implemented new standards for school food sources to improve the eating habits. According to Devi, Surender & Rayner (2010), students obtain 25-33 per cent of their total daily energy from school canteen food and there is a glowing body of research shows that children keep on fail to make healthy selections about school food. In-school vending machines and tuck shops are the two main sources providing junk food in...