It's a daily challenge to teach children, trying to teach them on an empty stomach is almost impossible. We all remember elementary school, as we ate lunch wondering, “What is this?” Coleslaw? Potato salad? Oatmeal?" School lunches still have a reputation for tasting bad. The quality of the food has always been suspect. Today, with the dramatic increase in childhood obesity and environmental concerns surrounding diet, There has been a focus on school meals, both in terms of the quality of meals served and education about food systems, choices and the impact on health. Most food is not made on site. They are prepackaged and cooked at a third-party distribution site and shipped to schools daily or weekly, according to a USA TODAY investigation, "The government has supplied schools nationwide with millions of pounds of beef and chicken that would not meet their needs." the quality or safety standards of many fast food restaurants The USDA checks meat for bacteria and other dangerous pathogens. For example, one fast food restaurant, Jack in the Box, has. bacteria standards up to 10 times stricter than the low-quality meat the USDA gives to most schools. Before December 2010, most schools had no regulations on nutritional risks, such as high fructose corn syrup and/or sugar limits. For example, flavored milk contains an additional four (4) teaspoons of sugar, making a total of seven (7) teaspoons of sugar per serving. If a child drinks two cartons of flavored milk per day at school, that's the equivalent of 16 ounces of soda. According to the Massachusetts Public Health Association, between 56% and 85% of school children consume at least one soft drink per day. 30% of schools that rarely, if ever, offer a vegetable class...... middle of paper ......ins. By banning junk food, you're only making kids more sneaky, because they're not going to give up junk food. I mean, what are they going to do, check everyone's lunch every day to make sure everything is healthy? This will cause more harm than good. The entire school district will lose funding, but not by much. Currently, schools need this money to purchase school supplies and teacher salaries. Second, students must learn to make their own choices. One day they will become adults and this will prepare them for the choices they will have to make when they are older. People should learn to make their own decisions about what they eat. We have all been told what to do and how we should do it our entire lives. It should be our decision to be obese or not. No one should be allowed to make this decision for us, especially the federal government..