In a move towards students remaining healthier and avoiding obesity, the Ministry of Education is banning the sale of sugary beverages and foods in schools. The ban includes foods that are high fat.
Students in schools and kindergartens will see whole wheat sandwiches such as tuna, avocado and low-fat cheeses. Of course there will be fresh vegetables and fruit and salads, plain yogurts and tofu, as well as pasta and sauce not to exceed 9% fat.
On the prohibited list are many favorites including burekas, chocolate, candies, deli, pastries, hotdogs, malawach and jachnun.
There are proteins too, including chicken and turkey breast and sides might include brown rise and couscous and possibly vegetables. For the approximately 200,000 students, many from low-income families, who receive the school lunches, the new regulations will make a noticeable difference in their meals next school year.
The ministry also recommends celebrating multiple birthdays in the class simultaneously to limit the amount of cake and sweets consumed by children.
(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
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5 Responses
This makes me very happy. Of course this restricts the “rights” of citizens to choose what they eat, but unfortunately allowing everyone to eat poorly hurts all of us — either directly at our waistlines, or else in the collective “tax” we all end up paying via increased health costs associated with obesity. Given how many children attend schools and eat there, this is a good place to start with changing habits. Even if kids will go home and nosh as before, at least they will be eating more healthily for one meal a day. Great work!!
Also, some out there might believe that the government should not interfere with personal choices. But at the same time many of these people will have no fundamental problem with a rosh yeshiva or rebbe banning smart phones, for example. Of course the government is not a rosh yeshiva or rebbe, but they too are responsible for the well-being of their constituents. If it bothers you that the government forbids this, I am curious — would it have bothered you if a rebbe make the same “takanah”? Would you say, stay out of our business?
Didn’t realize Bloomberg was Israel’s new Minister of Education.
They finally became smart to copy American school systems
To bad they don’t have authority to dictate what can be served in shuls for Kiddush and shalosh sa’udos. The garbage served is salty, fatty and high in cholesterol and starch. More fresh fruits and vegetables, tofu and whole grains should be required and fatty chulents, starch kugels and salty herring should be treated the same way we treat treifus since these foods are literally a major cause of diabetes, heart disease, and cancer in the heimeshe communities and should be banned. Maybe a little bit on rosh chodesh but otherwise, no more.