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November 13, 2009
Htoo Htoo Lu
Major changes in the content of the vending machines have taken places in all high schools across California since the beginning of this school year.
Large Gatorade bottles have been replaced by smaller, more expensive ones; healthier fruit juices have taken the place of sodas; and only healthy snacks are now available.
Arnold Schwarzenegger in 2005, set healthy standards for foods sold in California public schools. This bill went into effect for all beverages July 1, 2009.
As a result, it became required that all beverages sold on the school campus be one serving size, making the containers smaller and more expensive.
It is cheaper to package something bigger; as more material is used, the price of the material decreases. Also, prices for the beverages raised to a minimum of $1.25 In addition, the school is not to sell any snacks or sodas that are not in compliance with the law within 30 minutes of before and after school.
The law states that schools can still have vending machines, as long as soda isn’t sold during school hours and the 30 minute periods before and after school.
In order to still offer alternatives to the students and still be in compliance with the law, soda machines are to be added near the drama department and the gym in the future.
Activities director Helen Paris plans to put timers in the soda machines so that people can’t buy soda until thirty minutes before and after school. However, soft drinks are still available to students throughout the whole day.
More snack varieties have also been added to the vending machines, giving students more choices despite the restrictions. New varieties include apple juice, V8, yogurt pretzels, Fruit by the Foot, Cliff bars, Odwalla bars, healthy chips, etc.
“I’ve done everything I can to honor the law and offer alternatives to students at the same time,” Paris said.
The school only makes around $1000 per year through these vending machines, receiving a 15% commission off of the food and drinks sold.
Even though the school receives little profit from the products in vending machines, the school continues to offer these services to students.
“Everything we do here is not for profit, but for service,” Paris said.
As of right now, the school has eight vending machines all over the campus. However, Paris is planning to add more varieties of vending machines such as a Slurpee machine and a frozen yogurt machine to the school campus.
by Nicole Doan
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December 3rd, 2009 at 2:54 pm
OMG! I would love to have a slurpee machine here @ school so I would not have to go all the way to QUICK STOP and back without being late for class.
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