Sugary and processed foods remain at CPS
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Some meals on Chicago Public Schools menus — full of processed foods and sweetened milk — deliver more sugar than the American Heart Association's recommended limit for an entire day, an Axios analysis finds.
Why it matters: CPS students experience high levels of overweight and obesity — 46% of sixth graders and 43% of ninth graders were either overweight or obese in 2018 (the district's most recent analysis) — and sugary foods play a significant role.
- Sugary and processed foods remain some of the most common in CPS lunchrooms.
Zoom in: Processed foods in CPS meals include nachos, chicken patties, pizza crunchers, French toast sticks, Totally Taco Max Snax Wedges and more.
By the numbers: The AHA and the American Academy of Pediatrics recommend that people 18 and under consume no more than 25 grams of added sugar per day.
- But almost every day, CPS students can choose a lunch of skim strawberry milk (9 grams) and a peanut butter and jelly sandwich (34 grams of total sugar with most being added).
- High schoolers can combine Pillsbury Mini Waffles (12 grams) with skim strawberry milk (9 grams) for a breakfast packing 21 grams of sugar.
Driving the news: Last month, California passed a policy to remove ultra-processed foods and reduce sugar in its school menus, a move strongly encouraged by a new Lancet meta-analysis of research on ultra-processed foods by some of the nation's top nutrition scientists.
The other side: CPS food nutrition program manager Justine Britten told Axios the district is not considering the removal of sweetened milk, noting that it "might have added sugars but it also comes with a lot of other really good stuff for our children like vitamin D and calcium."
- Yes, but: CPS did remove sweetened milk from elementary school breakfasts.
Tarrah DeClemente, acting executive director of CPS nutrition support services, is not considering a California-style policy here and criticized it by noting that it still allows processed foods provided by the federal government, "like cheese sauce and cheese cubes. That's extremely processed."
- She says she also worries that a ban could end up targeting things like baby carrots, which are shaved-down regular carrots.
What's next: Congress hasn't released new school food rules in the last decade, but that could change with the recently released MAHA childhood health strategy, which aims to define ultra-processed foods, return whole milk to the lunchroom, and generally improve school meals.