I never ate a school lunch from grades 6 to 12 because I thought they were disgusting. I suffered through them the first 5 years and threw them away most of it then. I strongly believe that it is the preparation and long-term storage of the food that makes it unhealthy.

I do consider pizza a balanced meal and I don't see it as a problem. The pizza I make at home is not greasy, well, the pepperoni is, but I get rid of the grease that cooks out before we eat it. Very healthy and tasty pizza. Makes us want to finish the whole thing, but moderation stops us. I believe in moderation (Lost Horizon was a great book).

Oh I do wish they served better food in public schools, but the way they are thinking it needs to be done is not necessarily correct. The salads I remember from my early years at school were soft, old, slightly brown lettuce with a bit of soft sort of dressing (probably government surplus from a few months previous). That was salad, but it doesn't count as healthy in my book. Again, if they did more than just warm up frozen food that was made about six months before serving, I think things would improve dramatically. The schools, in order to save money, use low quality, poorly prepared food and that's not good.

Fried food gets a bad rap because the media pinpoints the people who partake in it who also like to sit around and do nothing all day. :)
Ding! I think we have a winner! :)
Sorry I am unable to offer you a prize at the moment.

Homemade pizza is not what we are talking about.

There's nothing wrong with pizza normally, I take it that there's something particular about those pizzas that make them unhealthy.

Pizza itself is normally pretty healthy, assuming you don't load the crust, sauce and cheese down with all sorts of unhealthy meats. It is a bit heavy on the protein, but that's pretty much the extent of the health risk, and even that tends to be exaggerated unless one is really pigging out. At which point it doesn't really matter what you're eating.

I know, but what I'm saying is that it should be. They need to improve the quality of school food, not necessarily change the menu, :)

I agree with both of you.

Yes, it used to be we afforded everyone the personal space to decide what was right or wrong for themselves, or their family, but now want to dictate how it should be in every aspect.

What is worse, to me, is to present this package to the world and expect them to do likewise.

I don't believe in it, I don't like it, and it seems to contradict the tenets we were founded on: Freedom.

It is up to them to decide, up to them to define within their societies, and up to us to respect that, unless they have committed an act of war.

From pizza to this, that'll teach me to have a few :-)

Edit; Was directed as a response to Adambiser

Hit the real subject on the head.

Moderation, within your choices, always seems to work out best.

The way you described it, I got the impression that it's in some manner different from typical pizza in a way that adds additional grams of fat. So, we should be in agreement.

So in the american presidential race at the moment there's a former pizza magnate. In his recent interviews he's clearly approaching the mental level of a vegetable.

Am I the only one thinking there might be a miscommunication in this story?

its also the atheists nightmare...

Right, there's nothing wrong with nudging people to make a correct decision, but in this case it seems that a better strategy would be to just fix the pizzas. I had a very tasty pizza when I was in Venice and it was definitely possible to integrate it into a balanced meal without too much effort. It was just baked crust and sauce with some cheese and basil thrown on the top. Very similar to the traditional pizzas of the past and definitely healthy.

My main concern is that not only are they short changing the students of the opportunity to make decisions, but they're doing it by essentially hard coding an unhealthy choice in the menu.

I agree, but disagree at the same time.

The responsibility of proper nutrition rests with the family, and not the state.

If we are concerned about unhealthy foods, perhaps we should take a look at those corporations who lobby, quite successfully, to integrate themselves in the growing of our foods, and subsequently, those ingredients our industries have to choose from.

I am pro business, pro free market, but am appalled by the things that just dance through legislation, with the public just going about their typical, self interested lives.

An even playing field is what is needed, but with money, having the voice that it does, I doubt that this can ever again be attained.

Of course, the Telegraph jumps on the opportunity to bash Europe...

However, in this very case, there is matter to think twice.

The issue is that some commercial brands try to add value to their products by making claims that these products can serve as medication. Drinking water when suffering of dehydration will be necessary to avoid the condition worsening, but does not cure the causes nor remove the risk of dehydration.

Having enquired a bit further, I found that the question to the food safety agency was not as simple as reported by the Telegraph, but "would it be acceptable to maket a brand of mineral water with the mention that drinking regularly significant quantities of water reduces the risk of dehydration and of a loss of performance". The claimant seems to have presented a "loss of water in human tissues" as a risk factor to dehydration. a bit simplistic for a couple of distinguished professors, isn't it ? it is not as much a risk factor as a measurement of it. A bit like saying that the elevation of body temperature is a risk factor of fever.

The problem is that dehydration can be caused by something else. Bacteria for instance, or exposure to toxins, or kidney problems. Efsa therefore advised not to accept the claim

in the same ruling, Europe also refused to accept claims that calcium enriched fruit juice was good for dental care. Of course, euro-basher won't mock this one.

imho this is just the reverse of the pizza case : Europe in that case did not accept the claims of lobbies

Nevertheless, ive read the entire article and im stunned. Your kids eat PIZZA and FRIES in school? Wow.. no wonder most of the kids are fat in U.S.

In Poland this is unimaginable. In most schools there's two dishes (soup + some meat and vegetables) meals are served.

If anyone jumped out with idea "let's serve pizza to the kids!", he would die slow and painful death.

And once, my friend from US posted me a photo of something like this:
http://megayummo.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/02/crookedbayou_tots.jpg

how can you serve meals like that in public/state schools?
In fact, even less. Many bottled water types have MUCH LESS minerals than running water from your sink. This causes more water comes right through you to the bladder.

The first thing to do is to check minerals values, when you're purchasing water.

Usually, if pizza is served, it's either once a week with a good side or part of a menu with 3 or 4 other things on it.

Not sure I follow your comment since although pizza may be high in calories relative to other foods, there's no reason for the slice in question to exceed about 200 calories.

So I think you will have to look elsewhere for the answer.
GROSS!!! NOT REAL PIZZA!!!!!!!!! GRRR

Pizzas that are not homemade are just soaked with fat/grease, that's the major problem. Not to mention dough is pretty tought to digest.

And this... "tots" ... are just potatoes fried in deep oil, so another portion of grease comes to your childrens stomachs.

I'm just shocked, it's unimaginable here in Poland, so my judgement may be noncompliant ;-)