English Assignment

Government Regulations on Junk Foods 8

Assignment 5: Government Regulations on Junk Foods

Student name

Strayer University

ENG 215: Research & Writing

Professor D

March 10, 2014

Introduction

In most public school cafeteria, you will get chicken nuggets, chicken fingers and French fries. These are processed food that is cheaper to serve, than fresh products. These are junk food stuffs, which are supposed to keep our children healthy, and fight obesity. Ironically, these food stuffs contain high sugar, salt, and fat (Schmitt, 2005). These are the main causes of obesity and overweight. It is not that the school administration does not know the effect of this food, but to them this is an essential source of income. These food stuffs have gained popularity among kids, to a point they are the child's favorite meal. To keep up with the trend, teachers and parent use these junk foods as birthday presents while teachers give them as rewards. As the child grows, he/she will know pizza, French fries, cakes, sodas, candy, and burgers as the recommended healthy food by schools, teachers, and even the parents. This hinders the fight against child obesity, and the need to achieve a healthy diet (Haerens, 2012). There should be a strict regulation on food served in public schools, to implement good and healthy lifestyle among kids.

Poor diet in public schools is a result of government failure. This is failure in funding, and failure in coming up with control measures. The government has preached good health in Medias, but, on the other hand, allows serving of unhealthy food in schools. Schools go for these foods, since they are within their budget, and there is no money to buy healthy food. The government should fund healthy programs, and put measures to limit serving unhealthy food in schools (Landau, 2003).

In 1946 President Harry S. Truman signed the National School Lunch Act (NSLA). The legislation came in response to claims that many American men had been rejected for World War II military service because of diet-related health problems.  The federally assisted meal program was established as "a measure of national security, to safeguard the health and well-being of the Nation's children and to encourage the domestic consumption of nutritious agricultural commodities" (Education Bug, n.d.). Since it began, there has been many amendments to the Act, but there needs to be more to ensure the health of our kids.

The main reason of this challenge is lack of enough funds to buy healthy diet in schools. This result from the poor funding school gets from the government. To make income from food served, schools opt to selling junk food. Schools may also get contracts from junk food brands, which help them to keep the school running. When a school is under financial pressure, it is more likely to sell junk food. The financial pressure on parents can also cause poor diet. Parents may wish to make their children happy, and they may not afford to get them a healthy diet. To solve the challenge, they opt to buy them junk food, and promote this food in schools (Royston, 2003).

The second cause of this challenge is the presence of junk food brand names. These brand names have contributed to increased junk food serving in public schools. This is through their target advertising, which mostly target school students. These companies will set their adverts near schools, or even in school cafeterias (Schmitt, 2005). This attracts students, and teachers, who opt to respect the brand name, and forget about their health. Some brand names will opt to run programs in schools, which attract school directors (Sears, 2006). These programs may involve sport competitions, or even scholarship programs. But, in the end, these brand names are targeting the food market niche in students.

Ignorance is the third problem. Teachers and parents know the impact of unhealthy food diet in the future of their kids. They have heard and witnessed some of the consequences of junk food. These consequences include overweight, and obesity. These are conditions which are present in most schools in United States. However, they ignore to acknowledge the source of these problems, and continue advocating and promoting unhealthy diet to their kids.

Ignorance on what kids are feeding on is another challenge. This problem is fueled by teachers, students, and parents. Parents leave the upbringing duty to schools, and they careless what their children are doing or eating in school. Their main role is to look for income to support their family. This creates a big gap between a parent and the school, hence boosting serving of unhealthy diet. Teachers and school managers on the other hand look at the financial gains from serving unhealthy diet, and ignore the health of the kids. They are attracted to profit margins from junk foods, and the time they will save. This puts the students at the risky end of getting obese and suffering from other complications related to unhealthy diet (Tartamella, Herscher, & Woolston, 2004).

The government should take the issue of obesity serious, and address it right from the schools. This is through the provision of enough funds, through government sponsored programs. They need to investigate and come up with health and cheap diet to serve schools. Teachers on the other hand should take the issue of unhealthy diet serious, and stop falling to the temptation of brand names. This would be possible through implementation of a healthy program within the school, which educates kids on healthy eating.

Brand companies should look for new and healthy diet for kids; they should look beyond profits, and see the impact of unhealthy diet on kids. Parents on the other hand should understand that the health of their children is the most important thing in their life. This way they should learn to give priority to the health of their kids. This is through monitoring what kids eat at school and work hard to regulate, and promote a healthy diet.

As aforementioned earlier, feeding on junk foods is a burning issue among the young generation. This problem is a bomb ready to explode. There is a need for an immediate governmental intervention as a solution to the above mentioned problem. The government is obligated to establish measures and policies that are focused on implementing good and healthy lifestyle among the target group (Bradley, 2008). Governmental intervention is mainly in political commitment as well as encouragement of a collaboration of both private and public stakeholders. The government has the capacity to regulate production, distribution, and consumption of the low nutrition and high fat foods. Federal and State governments can regulate the locations of the junk food premises (Schlosser, 2012). The government should set policies and regulations that will restrict locating the junk food premises near learning institutions. From this venture, unplanned purchases of the junk foods are limited. In addition, regulation of the premises for the cafeterias and cafes that sell the junk food near the learning institution will limit the consumption of junk foods among the children (Brownell & Horgen, 2004).

Through legislation the government can increase the levies and taxes for the junk operating premises. Such legislation will increase the cost of operating a junk food cafe hence increasing the price of the commodities offered. The resulting of undertaking this action is reducing the number of the students that will consume the foods in question. As the wise say ‘information is power.' The government may undertake campaigns that are meant to empower the community with the relevant knowledge concerning the junk foods (Schlosser, 2012). These campaigns will enlighten the target group on the dangers that result from consuming the foods in question. In addition, the campaign will also campaign for the advantages that come with good nutrition. Lastly, the government may intervene through the introduction of relevant education programs in the learning institutions. The programs will empower the target group with information of both good and bad nutrition (Bradley, 2008).

Settling on the government as the solution for the problem in question is encompassed with several advantages. The first advantage is the availability of the necessary resources that can be used in the fight against the problem in question. For instance, lets consider an activity such as participation in good health campaigns. These campaigns are mainly formulated to cover the entire country (Schlosser, 2012). These campaigns require huge finances to carry on the entire process. It is without shrewd of doubt that the government is the budget guide as well as the main source of finance to the daily projects that run a given country. Carrying out the campaigns of enlightening people about good and bad feedings is very expensive especially when it involves an individual. However, when the government intervenes the greater challenge of finance is fully addressed hence promoting a smooth and successful campaign (Brownell & Horgen, 2004).

The second advantage is man power. The government has got the capability of providing the necessary manpower for the activity in question. Man power goes hand in hand with finance. Sufficient finances provide an opportunity of adequate personnel for the campaigning activity (Brownell & Horgen, 2004). The personnel in question is skilled as well as experienced in the field of nutrition. The described personnel are peculiar since it will inform the target groups concerning the dangers of junk foods such as obesity. Hence, an adequate finance attracts skilled and equipped personnel in the field in question to join in the campaign against junk food hence leading to an effective campaign towards eradicating junk food consumption.

The third advantage of government involvement in curbing junk food consumption is a wide coverage. The aspect of a government is to be answerable and control of the daily activities that are happening in the entire country or state. This means that the government oversees the whole region and not partly. From this phenomenon we can deduce that the government has a wide coverage. Therefore, the government has a trait of wide coverage. It is this attribute that gives the government an upper hand to undertake the campaign against junk foods among the young generation (Bradley, 2008). The government has the resources that can be used to reach every individual in the fight against poor feeding habits such as junk consumption. The government can carry out campaigns that will cover the entire country or state or it can use the media as well as magazines to strengthen the fight against junk foods. The government possesses several media stations as well as magazines that can be used to empower a wide coverage concerning health and unhealthy feeding (Brownell & Horgen, 2004). The government can start programs that encourage health feeding as well as printing every day feeding menus for a health living (Bradley, 2008).

Conclusion

In summation, the government should be the foremost ambassador for health eating to its inhabitants (Schlosser, 2012). This is through regulating the production, distribution, and consumption of low nutrition and junk foods. The government is obligated to establish measures and policies that are focused on implementing good and healthy lifestyle among the target group (Bradley, 2008).

References

Haerens, M. (2012). Obesity. Detroit: Greenhaven Press.

Landau, E. (2003). A healthy diet. New York: F. Watts.

Royston, A. (2003). Healthy food. Chicago, Ill.: Heinemann Library.

Schmitt, B. D. (2005). Your child's health: the parents' one-stop reference guide to symptoms, emergencies, common illnesses, behavior problems, healthy development (Completely rev. & updated. ed.). New York: Bantam Books.

Sears, W. (2006). The healthiest kid in the neighborhood: ten ways to get your family on the right nutritional track. Boston: Little, Brown and Co..

Tartamella, L., Herscher, E., & Woolston, C. (2004). Generation extra large: rescuing our children from an epidemic of obesity. New York: Basic Books

Bradley, R. (2008). Born liberal, raised right: How to rescue America from moral decline-- one family at a time. Los Angeles, CA: WND Books.

Brownell, K. D., & Horgen, K. B. (2004). Food fight: The inside story of the food industry, America's obesity crisis, and what we can do about it. Chicago, Ill: Contemporary Books.

Schlosser, E. (2012).Fast food nation: The dark side of the all-American meal. Boston: Mariner Books/Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.

Education Bug. (n.d.). Retrieved from Educationbug.org: http://www.educationbug.org/a/the-history-of-the-school-lunch-program.html.