Commercial Alert Asks USDA to Enforce Junk Food Ban

Gary Ruskin's Commercial Alert cause group has, petitioned (pdf) the USDA to better enforce its prohibition on the sale of junk food, described by the USDA as "foods of minimal nutritional value," in school cafeterias. The USDA has admitted to not knowing whether or not school are complying with the guidelines stating in a report last month, "it is unclear to what extent federal and state regulations [against the sale of foods of minimum nutritional value] are enforced at the local level."

"We're asking the USDA to side with parents who want their kids to grow up healthy, not with the junk food companies that want to stuff our children with sugar and caffeine," said Gary Ruskin, executive director of Commercial Alert. "The USDA should strengthen existing rules against the sale of junk food in school – before the childhood obesity epidemic gets any worse."

The public seems to agree with the USDA guidelines according to a recent Wall Street Journal poll in which 83 percent of Americans believe school need to do a better job limiting access to junk food.