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Watch: District may ease junk food ban amid profit loss

The Seattle School District is considering rewriting a policy enacted in 2004 that removed junk food from public schools, citing the ban’s huge cut to revenues used to fund school programs, the Huffington Post reports. When the Seattle School Board first implemented the policy seven years ago, the district was placed on the cutting edge of the battle against childhood obesity. Fatty snacks like candy bars and fried chips were stripped from vending machines and replaced with orange juice, water and granola bars. But the change has reduced vending machine profits across the district to $17,000 this year, from $214,000 before the ban was adopted [1], the Seattle Times reports. The money went toward funding student clubs, publications, athletic uniforms and social events–some of which had to be canceled or cost students more out of pocket to hold or keep. The ban also hasn’t kept some students from eating unhealthily, as some students simply go off campus to find their treats…

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