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"  Michelle Obama&amp;#039;s school lunch initiative, which was implemented last year, covers federally-funded food programs, but it does not cover all unhealthy school foods, like those offered in vending machines. Now the Department of Agriculture is doing something about it \u2014 the department has plans to enforce healthier school snack rules by the 2014 school year. According to the Associated Press, the government is attempting to change student access to unhealthy snacks during the school day. New rules would ban candy, sodas, and &amp;quot;a la carte&amp;quot; greasy items. The unhealthy snacks found in vending machines would be replaced with water, lower-calorie sports drinks, diet sodas, and baked chips. Fries and mozzarella sticks sold separately from full meals in the cafeteria would be changed to fruit, yogurt, and healthier versions of pizzas and hamburgers. More from Delish: 12 Dietician-Approved Healthy Snacks The new rules would include limits on fat, calories, sugar, and sodium for all foods sold in schools, not just federal government-subsidized breakfasts and lunches. While some schools have already overhauled their vending machine offerings, others still offer chips and candy, which allows kids to spend their lunch money on junk food. While these new standards would drastically change the snacks available at some schools \u2014 most snacks will have to fall under 200 calories \u2014 students are of course still allowed to bring any kind of snacks and lunches for personal consumption. The rules also wouldn&amp;#039;t apply to bake sales, fundraisers, and after school concessions sold at sporting events. More From Delish: 8 Healthy Snacks for Work Politicians who were involved in the previous implementation of healthy school lunches find the availability of vending machine snacks and &amp;quot;a la carte&amp;quot; cafeteria items to be a loophole. They believe that the unhealthy snacks undermine the fight to help America&amp;#039;s kids eat healthier. Research done by the Center for Science in the Public Interest supports the new snacks initiative. In fact, it shows that most parents support changes when it comes to healthy food at school. &amp;quot;Parents aren&amp;#039;t going to have to worry that kids are using their lunch money to buy candy bars and a Gatorade instead of a healthy school lunch,&amp;quot; stated nutrition lobbyist Margo Wootan. Do you think it&amp;#039;s a good idea to get rid of all unhealthy snacks from school vending machines and lunchrooms?  Find more great food content on Delish:  Search for the perfect recipe from our homepage Find out the latest food news Get a recipe book to save your favorite dishes Sign up for our free newsletters Check us out on Facebook, Pinterest, and Twitter  "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.delish.com/food/news/a39750/healthier-school-snack-rules/>