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October 6, 2006
Frito Bandito takes one for the teamGood Morning America reported this morning that snack food companies would follow in the footsteps of the soda companies by signing on with President Clinton and the American Heart Association to limit the amount of fat and sugar in snack foods sold at schools, all in the name of the ongoing battle against childhood obesity.
The agreement with Kraft Foods Inc., Mars Inc., Campbell Soup Co., Groupe Danone SA and PepsiCo Inc. sets guidelines for fat, sugar, sodium and calories for snack foods sold in school vending machines, stores and snack bars. Those companies make everything from M&M's, yogurt and granola bars to Frito-Lay potato chips, Snickers bars and canned soups.Under the guidelines, most foods won't be permitted to derive more than 35 percent of their calories from fat and more than 10 percent from saturated fat. There will be a limit of 35 percent for sugar content by weight.
An example of a snack that would be banned is a Snickers bar, which has 280 calories, 130 of them from fat. The candy bar has 30 grams of sugar out of 58.7 total grams.
While the soda agreement covers about 87 percent of the market, the snack market is a little more diverse, but the the Clinton Foundation and American Heart Association are hopeful that the "industry leaders" who have already signed on will inspire others to do so as well.
Posted October 6, 2006 4:39 PM | Health & Wellness
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Comments(1)
Posted by: Ashley on October 6, 2006 5:22 PM
While I think this is great news to ensure that kids are having a healthier diet i also feel that exercise is important as well and should be encouraged. Junk Food in moderation is ok, we just need to teach children a balance.
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