Starting September 1, students will be heading back to school and may be in for a surprise to see no junk food anywhere in their school cafeteria, vending machines or school stores. Beginning on the first day of school, all Edmonton public schools can no longer sell or support junk food to students pertaining to the Alberta nutrition guidelines.

Types of junk food include: pop, chips, cookies, chocolates bars, candy, ice cream and baked goods.

At Edmonton Catholic schools, parents and teachers have already acted collectively in eliminating junk food and providing nutritional alternatives in the majority of their schools.

Food choices have improved the past years such as in Victoria Schools of the Arts. The vending machines at Victoria provide healthier items such as Nature Valley granola bars and fruits. Still, there have been some complaints from students about the change. A student at Victoria observes that the price of food is expensive. You would have to pay $2 for a banana but a cookie would be half the price.

Students are still permitted to bring junk food from home or buy them outside of the school. Generally, students still travel to nearby stores and fast food franchises on their lunch break however; schools see that students prefer purchasing a nutritional item from the vending machines than travel outside of the school for junk food. If junk food is not there, students won’t buy it.

Several parents try to educate their children about the significance of exercise and healthy eating but it’s difficult to do this when schools challenge their teaching by offering students quick access to innutritious snacks/meals. The proposal to remove junk food from the 197 public schools started in 2006 and came into effect in 2008. This comprised a timeline to gradually eliminate all junk food from the school cafeterias, vending machines and school stores. It was complicated for the schools since they had to respect their contracts with food vendors and fathom some kind of arrangement to offer food that meets Alberta nutrition guidelines.

In Harry Ainlay High School, the “no junk food” policy has been in effect for at least three years. Principal David Jones comments, “You know, it’s interesting that the sales of food in the school went down dramatically in my first year of doing this for the first month. Then all of a sudden they came back because students know and were educated that it’s not good to have french fries and a Slurpee or a large Coke or an extra burger. They become very aware of what’s going into their bodies. We’re not in the business of making money at cafeterias. We’re in the business of providing good, healthy choices.”