There's a report out today that says the beverage industry is beginning to send healthier drinks to schools because many states have banned soda sales on campus. It's the first progress report on the industry since agreeing to pull sugary drinks from most schools by 2009. Here's what The Associated Press story says:
"Through these guidelines, the beverage industry is cutting calories in
schools in a dramatic way across the country," said Susan Neely,
president and chief executive officer of the American Beverage
Association. The trade group represents the country's nonalcoholic
beverage industry, which includes soda, bottled water and fruit drinks.
Health officials long have expressed concern that schools contributed to
rising obesity rates because campus vending machines sold high-calorie
and high-sugar snacks and drinks.
Margo Wootan, director of nutrition policy at the Center for Science in
the Public Interest, said the report card offers some good news.
"It looks like the country has taken a good step forward in addressing
soft drinks in schools, but we still have a lot of work to do," she
said.
Wootan said about 22 states limit the sale of sugary drinks in some
grades. Most elementary schools are already soda-free. But under the voluntary
guidelines, beverage companies agreed to sell only water, unsweetened
juice and low-fat and nonfat milk to elementary and middle schools. Diet
sodas and sports drinks will remain in high schools.
The guidelines were brokered by the Alliance for a Healthier Generation,
a collaboration between the William J. Clinton Presidential Foundation
and the American Heart Association.
It involves industry leaders Cadbury Schweppes PLC, Coca-Cola Co. and
PepsiCo Inc. as well as the beverage association, which together control
87 percent of the public and private school drink market.
Robert Wescott, the economist hired by the beverage association to
evaluate vending machine stock, said the overall shipment of nondiet
soft drinks to schools peaked in 2003-04 school year, so deliveries were
falling even before the industry's agreement. But that trend has
accelerated, he said.
"I'm very confident we have the correct story here: Volumes are down
sharply and the shift is heavily away from carbonated soft drinks,"
Wescott said.
Overall, shipments of all beverages to schools, when measured in ounces,
dropped 27 percent between 2004 and the 2006-07 school year.
The biggest declines were in sugary fruit drinks, 56.2 percent, and
full-calorie soft drinks, 45.1 percent. Meanwhile, there was a 22.8
percent increase in the volume of bottled water in school vending
machines.
Neely said that the guidelines led the beverage industry to invest
millions of dollars to retrofit vending machines and repackage products.
Those efforts will continue as companies work toward fully ending sales
of nondiet soft drinks by the 2009-10 school year.
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