Teaching children is a daily challenge, trying to teach them on an empty stomach is almost impossible. We all remember in elementary school, while eating lunch, we asked ourselves: “What is this? Coleslaw? Potato salad? Gruel?” School lunches have a history of getting a bad rap. The quality of the food has always been suspect. Now, the dramatic increase in childhood obesity and food-related environmental concerns has led to a focus on school meals both in terms of the quality of meals served and education about food systems, choices, and health impacts. Most foods are not prepared on site. They are pre-packaged 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 the nation's schools with millions of pounds of beef and chicken that do not meet the quality or safety standards of many fast-food restaurants.” The USDA tests the meat for bacteria and other dangerous pathogens. In fact, one fast-food restaurant, Jack in the Box, has bacteria standards up to 10 times more stringent than the low-quality meat the USDA donates to most schools. most schools had no regulations on nutritional risks, such as limits on corn syrup and/or high fructose sugar, for example, flavored milk contains four (4) additional teaspoons of sugar, total of seven (7) teaspoons of sugar per serving. According to the Massachusetts Public Health Association, between 56% and 85% of children a school consume at least one non-alcoholic drink a day. The 30% of schools that rarely, if ever, offer a vegetable...... middle of paper......ins. By banning junk food, you are only making kids sneakier, because they won't give up junk food. I mean, what are they going to do, check everyone's lunch every day to make sure it's all healthy food? It will cause more harm than good. The entire school district will lose funding, not much. Right now schools need that money to buy school supplies and teachers' salaries. Second, students must learn to make their own choices. One day they will become adults and this prepares 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 whether to be obese or not. No one should be allowed to make this decision for us, especially the federal government.