Frontera NorteSur March 2001

While the junk-food issue has never gained wide concern, vendors have at times responded by adding healthier snacks to the choices available in their machines. This effectively puts the burden of choosing a healthy diet on students ages five to eighteen. The machines are left in schools most likely because they represent a significant revenue source for school districts and are often used to fund extracurricular activities.

In Ciudad Juárez the situation is much the same except that instead of schools entering into arrangements that may trade student health for money, the junk-food concessions in Cd. Juárez are often run by parent associations that raise money for school necessities like telephones, cleaning supplies and transportation for field trips. The concession stands in the schools are run directly by parent organizations or private individuals who pay a given amount per week to the parent groups.

The profit that the parent groups make off of these sales is between 210 and 1000 pesos per week (approximately US$21-$100). The most popular food items according to a series of El Diario articles are potato chips, spicy pork rinds (chicharrones), individual-size pizzas, nachos, candies, burritos, soft drinks and juices. One student told El Diario that he spends 10 pesos (US$1) a day on gum, soda or potato chips. Another student receives 20 pesos a day to spend on bottles of purified water, sodas, sweets and potato chips.

Cero Chatarrero

The attention of Cd. Juárez has been drawn to the school-food issue because the Dirección de Fomento Social del Gobierno del Estado (State Office of Social Development, DFS) has recently announced that it will soon ban the sale of junk food in schools throughout Chihuahua as part of its "Cero Chatarrarero" (Zero Junk) program. Under DFS regulations the current food, 100% of which lacks nutritional value according to a DFS official, will be replaced by supposedly more wholesome snacks like yogurt and fruit bars. This change is being brought about because the DFS believes that the current diet of junk food sold to children produces cavities, malnutrition, obesity, and stomach upsets and can make children more vulnerable to diabetes and other chronic, degenerative diseases.

Many school parent groups oppose the new DFS rules because they believe that they will lose revenue for the schools if they are forced to sell healthy snacks that children may refuse to buy. The parent groups also argue that in many schools older students may step off campus and by from the junk-food vendors that currently sell on school sidewalks. Parents also state that they sell snacks only after the lunch hour when students are already full from nutritious food that they bring from home.

However, school snacks are just one of the many diet-related problems that the DFS finds in schools. The government office is also worried about children's development of life-long eating habits. For this reason, the DFS is also beginning a nutrition and hygiene course for parents, teachers and principals in 100 elementary schools throughout the state. These programs are scheduled for February 13-23, 2001. Later, other courses will be taught in all 3,000 schools throughout the state of Chihuahua.

80% of Students Don't Eat Breakfast

Another nutrition issue that has been raised recently is that a large percentage of students arrive at school on an empty stomach. According to teacher reports to the DFS, approximately 80% of pupils do not eat breakfast. State DFS Secretary Graciela Ortiz González said that 10% of students have only junk food before lunch, either at breakfast or during a morning break, and that only 10% of students have a good or very good breakfast based on fruit, eggs and milk. The DFS wishes to increase the percentage of students that eat breakfast because students learn better, grow better and are healthier if they eat a good morning meal.

While Cd. Juárez does have a free breakfast plan it only extends to 24 elementary schools in a city with over 150,000 students. Rebeca Quintana de Mena, director of social and food assistance for Desarrollo Integral de la Familia (Family Development, DIF), says that school breakfast funds come from federal money and are only enough to provide 6,060 breakfasts throughout the city. Quintana also stated that only the poorest schools receive the free breakfasts which consist of milk and a snack like a cookie. While she acknowledges that the meal is not much she said that it is a balanced meal and makes it possible for children to think and stay awake in class.

Conclusions

At this point it appears difficult to see how the dispute will be resolved between the DFS and parent groups responsible for resource-needy schools. As it appears that the DFS has the right to impose regulations on the what schools sell at their concession stands, parents groups may be forced to change their snack offerings. However, the nutritional value of what is offered in the place of potato chips and chicharrón should be closely reviewed as even the DFS's much touted yogurt and fruit bars are often high in sugar. Of prime importance in this state-wide discussion of diet is the education of parents and children as to what constitutes a healthy diet. It also seems as if the importance of breakfast and the expansion of breakfast programs are becoming more important issues in statewide discussions of children's health.

Source: El Diario, February 7, 9 & 27. Articles by Guadalupe Félix.