Has The Aviary been disappointing you with limited food choices? In the beginning of the 2015 school year, they switched out well-known snacks and candy bars for less popular options. They did this to comply with the Healthy Hunger-Free Act of 2010, supported by Michelle Obama. According to the legislation, schools cannot sell food unless it meets strict nutritional standards set by the USDA. This means The Aviary either sells those “whole grain rich” snacks with 200 calories and zero grams of trans fat, or they sell no snacks at all.

Exploring Entrepreneurship teacher Jason Savage says, “We could sell Diet Coke here, despite all we know about artificial sweeteners and stuff like that, it doesn’t have certain levels of sugar and certain levels of calories so it’s okay to sell, even though that doesn’t make a whole lot of sense.”

With the dismissal of candy bars and high-calorie chips, there has been a drop in sales.  Savage explains, “When students and staff can buy a Snickers bar or Skittles, those seem to get their attention more than baked chips or a Clif bar.  So yeah, we’ve definitely seen sales decrease in that realm.”  

While the decrease in sales is a negative outcome from the regulations on school food, complying with the law does nudge students toward healthier choices, and that is always positive.