School Vending Machine Contracts

The Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) studied vending machine contracts and found that they are not very efficient fundraisers. The attraction lies in the fact that the dollars gained are discretionary and can be used where they are most needed. "Though perceived as lucrative," said Margo Wootan, one of the studie's authors, " we found that school beverage contracts usually raise less than a quarter of one percent of school districts' budgets. That modest amount of money can be replaced"
From CSPI's report "Raw Deal: School Beverage Contracts Less Lucrative Than They Seem"
" School beverage contracts generate an average of $18 per student per year for schools and/or school districts... Revenue to schools/districts ranged from about $0.60 to $93 per student per year."

" The majority (67%, on average) of revenue generated from school beverage sales goes to beverage companies rather than to the schools, making beverage vending an inefficient way for schools to raise money. Children (and their parents) have to spend one dollar in order for their school to raise 33 cents. Alternatively, fundraisers in which schools sell products, such as gift wrap and candles, usually provide schools with profit margins of about 45%, though the revenue to the school is determined by the volume sold."

Source: Joy Johanson, Jason Smith, Margo G. Wootan, "Raw Deal: School Beverage Contracts Less Lucrative Than They Seem", Center for Science in the Public Interest,December 2006

Healthy vending machines can mean more money

According to USDA and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), “students will buy and consume healthful foods and beverages – and schools can make money from selling healthful options.” Their survey of 17 schools and school districts found that, after improving school foods, 12 schools and districts increased revenue and four reported no change.

Source: Food and Nutrition Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture; Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services; and U.S. Department of Education. FNS-374, " Making it Happen! School Nutrition Success Stories," Alexandria, VA, January 2005.

Canned Fuel Corn

We use a lot of energy from gas and other sources in order to make the food we eat. As this diagram illustrates, it take over 3,000 calories of energy to produce one can of corn. That corn offers the body only 375 calories of food energy. Other examples:

• " Breakfast cereals, which contain about 3600 kcal of food energy per kilogram, require on average 15,675 kcal/kg to process and prepare."
  
• " A 12-ounce can of diet soda requires a total of 2200 kcal to produce (over 70% of which goes toward the aluminum can) and may provide only 1 kcal in food energy.

Source: Martin C. Heller and Gregory A. Keoleian, "Life Cycle-Based Sustainability Indicators for Assessment of the U.S. Food System", Center for Sustainable Systems, U. of Michigan, Report No. CSS00-04, December 6, 2000

WA small farm stat

" About 89 percent of Washington farms fit the U.S. Department of Agriculture definition of small farms: less than $250,000 in gross annual sales, with the day-to-day labor and management provided by the farmer and/or the farm family that owns or leases the productive assets of the farm."

For comparison, the Small Business Administration considers any business with less than $500,000 in sales to be small.

Source: Washington State House of Representatives Office of Program Research Bill Analysis, Agriculture & Natural Resources Committee, HB 1311, " Continuing the small farm direct marketing assistance program."
http://www.leg.wa.gov/pub/billinfo/2007-08/Pdf/Bill%20Reports/House/1311.HBA%2007.pdf

Media and Obesity

The Kaiser Family Foundation released a report in 2004, The Role of Media in Childhood Obesity, that brings together research from a variety of disciplines for the first time in a document that looks exclusively at the role of media in contributing to and potentially helping to reduce rates of childhood obesity.

From the press release:
The typical child sees about 40,000 ads a year on TV, and that the majority of ads targeted to kids are for candy, cereal, soda and fast food... Exposure to food advertising affects children’s food choices and requests for products in the supermarket.

The report also highlights ways media can play a positive role in helping to reduce childhood obesity, through programs that encourage children to be active and help teach good nutrition, through public education campaigns aimed at children and parents, and by using popular media characters to promote healthier food options to children.

Source: Kaiser Family Foundation, The Role of Media in Childhood Obesity, Feb. 2004

The taxing burden of obesity

Ann Cooper wrote a paper for the Food and Society Policy Fellows with this quote (and source):

"It costs approximately $6,000 to feed a child lunch during the entire tenure of their K-12 education, and it costs our health care system and our taxes approximately $175,000 per adult, for illnesses related to poor childhood nutrition."

Sources: “National School Lunch Program,” USDA: Child Nutrition Webpage: FNS Online, February 2002; “Nutrition and the Health of Young People: Fact Sheet,” USDA:CDC, June 1997.

More obesity facts

Quotes (and original sources) from the Center for Science in the Public Interest's Improve School Foods program:

• " According to the USDA, healthier diets could prevent at least $71 billion per year in medical costs, lost productivity, and lost lives."
• Source: Frazao E. "High Costs of Poor Eating Patterns in the United States." In America's Eating Habits: Changes and Consequences. Edited by Elizabeth Frazao. Washington, D.C.: Economic Research Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture, 1999. Agriculture Information Bulletin No. 750, pp. 5-32.
• " U.S. health-care costs due to obesity are $94 billion a year, half of which ($47 billion) is paid through Medicare and Medicaid."
• Source: Finkelstein EA, Fiebelkorn IC, Wang G. “State-level Estimates of Annual Medical Expenditures Attributable to Obesity.” Obesity Research 2004; 12:18-24.
• " From 1979 to 1999, annual hospital costs for treating obesity-related diseases in children rose three-fold (from $35 million to $127 million)."
• Source: Wang G, Dietz W. "Economic Burden of Obesity in Youths Aged 6 to 17 Years: 1979-1999." Pediatrics 2002, vol. 109, pp. e81.