NISKAYUNA, N.Y. – A New York school district is mulling a ban on snacks like Oreos, Goldfish crackers, and Fruit Gushers at lunch in favor of “real food” alternatives favored by a school nutrition committee.

“They will eat what you give them,” parent Aline Stabler, member of Niskayuna school district nutrition committee, told board members earlier this month. “I want to simplify everything. I want whole real food, so we can start that early — that you eat real food. Food can either be the best medicine or the worst poison.”

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The district’s schools dropped out of the National School Lunch Program a few years ago when the government imposed tight regulations on calories, fat, sugar, salt, and other elements of school food at the behest of former first lady Michelle Obama.

As a result, Niskayuna schools are not bound by federal regulations in the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Smart Snacks program that dictates that “’any food sold in schools’ should have a fruit, vegetable, dairy or protein product as the main ingredient, should contain at least one-fourth cup of fruit or vegetables and contain 10 percent of the daily value of a major health nutrient,” Your Niskayuna reports.

Each school in the Niskayuna district forms its own rules about snacks, and elementary students in most schools can purchase items like chips, Goldfish, Rice Krispie Treats and ice cream at the end of their lunch period.

Board members recently reviewed a list of the “unhealthy snacks” and are now considering ways to limit offerings to “healthier options” that better align with government regulations.

“The list presented here, frankly, if they eat all of this, they aren’t going to eat anything healthy,” board member Pat Lanotte said. “If they have access to this throughout the day, we know this is what they are going to eat.”

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“Why wouldn’t we make a shift to seven, eight, 12 healthy alternatives uniformly across the elementary schools?” board member Jack Calareso said. “Just do it and push it out.”

That was the same approach the USDA used to impose the tightened food restrictions on schools in 2012, and a reason cited by the Niskayuna board for dropping out of the federal lunch program in 2013. Students across the nation, including Niskayuna students, stopped eating school lunches altogether.

According to a Jan. 2013 report in The Huffington Post:

The Niskayuna Board of Education unanimously voted to terminate participation in the program, effective April 1, after a semester-long stint has resulted in a net operating loss of nearly $70,500, Spotlightnews.com reports. The new rules, Food Service Director Suzanne Wixom tells WNYT, has resulted in more waste as students throw out more food they are forced to take but do not want to eat. The less appealing meals, district officials say, have also cut into revenue as the number of school lunch buyers have dropped by half.

“You are going to be heroes among a lot of kids,” Board member John Buhrmaster said, according to Spotlightnews.com. “The program you had before was better than the one dictated by the federal government and the kids understood that, and they will be very appreciative.” …

“It’s a good moment right now,” Wixom told WNYT. “I’m happy that we can go back to serving kids what it is that they want and that it’s healthy and nutritious.”

The decision to ditch the National School Lunch Program was also based in part on the district’s low percentage of students who utilized the free- and reduced-price subsidies provided by the government.

Niskayuna officials told Your Niskayuna the percentage of low-income students has increased in the district in recent years, and they’re now mulling a return to the NSLP. In the meantime, the district is investigating the cost of replacing snacks offered in schools with “healthier” options, though Niskayuna superintendent Cosimo Tangorra Jr. doesn’t think the snack issue is a problem.

“I think snacks are just that; they are snacks,” Tangorra said. “They are not replacements for meals, and I don’t think, in any of our cafeterias, are they being treated that way.”