The First Lady of the United States, Michelle Obama, announced on Tuesday an initiative to ban advertising for junk food and sugary drinks in the country's schools.
According to Time, the new rules from the White House and the Department of Agriculture have the main objective of banning these advertisements for unhealthy food inside schools.
The same source indicated that publicity for sugary drinks, currently allowed in school facilities, represents up to 90% of all advertisements in schools throughout the United States.
It's worth noting that the initiative presented on Tuesday by the First Lady would force junk food producers to retire, or least suspend their publicity during school hours, but not at other times.
This means that if a sugary drink company promoted its brand on the scoreboards in schools or around campus, the new measure would demand that they were deactivated during the day, but at night these announcements wouldn't have to be removed.
According to the NBC, with the new initiative, presented during an official act from the White House, the Department of Agriculture would update the nutrition health standards of food served in schools.
The same source detailed that this department will shortly demand that all food and drinks sold in schools, including those in vending machines, fulfill at least one of the following requisites:
- Contain integral cereals.
- Have fruit, vegetables or protein as the main ingredient.
- Provide 10% of the daily recommended intake of calcium, vitamin D and fiber.
In the case of drinks, schools must make sure that students are only allowed to buy water, low fat milk and fruit or vegetable drinks in basic grades. In later grades, only low calorie soda will be sold in addition to the previously mentioned drinks.
Video via NBC