Mexico bans junk food in schools

Government measure to fight childhood obesity

In a bid to combat the increasing problem of childhood obesity, the Mexican government is to ban fried and junk foods in primary and secondary schools. President Felipe Calderon launched an anti-obesity campaign back in January 2010. The problem of childhood obesity is so great, public officials refer to Mexican children as having the worst obesity problem in the world.

From the beginning of the next school year, school shops will no longer be allowed to stock and sell fizzy drinks, sugar-filled fruit beverages, processed snacks, or local treats such as chilli soaked sweets. School kitchens will also no longer be able to offer traditional fare such as fried tacos. The education minister, Alonso Lujambio, told W Radio: ‘We are going to start a profound cultural change.’ The health minister Jose Angel Cordoba said consumption of fruits and vegetables in the last 15 years had fallen by 40% while consumption of sweetened drinks rose by 50%.  The rising obesity rates can be mostly attributed to diets centring on junk foods and exacerbated by falling rates of exercise caused, in part, by rapid urbanisation that infringes upon open spaces.

Lujambio praised CocaCola and Pepsi’s new ‘co-operative spirit’ with reference to their diversification into healthier products, including bottled water which is hugely profitable in a country where few trust tap water. ‘Our hope is that children start demanding other kinds of products,’ he said.

Source: The Guardian, 27 May 2010.

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