No Brownies at Bake Sales, but Doritos May Be O.K. (NYC)

[brooklynite]

I think Bloomberg & Co. are going off the deep end...

Nine months after effectively banning most fund-raising food sales in city schools, a city panel will vote Wednesday on an amended regulation that will allow student groups to sell items like Pop-Tarts and Doritos during the school day, but not brownies, zucchini bread or anything else homemade.

The new regulation is meant as a compromise between the city’s concerns about childhood obesity— which they cite as the reason for the restrictions — and the fund-raising needs of student and parent groups, some of which are struggling amid difficult economic times, especially after losing one of their most lucrative sources of revenue.

Under the new rules, students may sell fresh fruits and vegetables, or one of 27 specific packaged items that have been approved for sales in city vending machines, between the start of school and 6 p.m. on weekdays. The same goes for parent groups, except for an exception carved out for one no-brownies-barred Parent Teacher Association bake sale during the school day per month.

No homemade or unpackaged items are on the list of “approved” foods because “it’s impossible to know what the content is, or what the portion size is,” said Kathleen Grimm, the deputy chancellor for infrastructure and portfolio planning, who oversees the regulation.

"Infrastructure and Portfolio Planning" is certainly where I'd got to get a decision made on an issue like this.

[Bluebear]

1. A bake sale with nothing baked. Delicious.

:silly:

[SpiralHawk]

3. Corporate take over of the neighborhood school bake sale

Arrrrgggghhhhhh.

[Bluebear]

8. Lovely homemade, er...Funyums for sale.

:/

[aquart]

2. Stupidest regulation I ever heard. EVER.

HTF can you get fat on a bake sale? Those are fundraisers. The goodies cost MONEY.

[SoCalNative]

7. Well unfortunately NYC has a law that all food sold

in the city must have calorie counts posted.

Can't do that with Aunt Ethel's zucchini bread, unless Aunt Ethel is willing to send out samples to a lab and pay to have it analyzed and portion sizes determined.

[KittyWampus]

16. Bake in school using pre-approved recipes. I think that'd do the trick

[surrealAmerican]

33. I like that idea.

It could work. If the the schools' kitchens are safe enough for the kids to use, it would be a good learning experience for them too.

[virgogal]

26. NYC used to be a great city,

[Dorian Gray]

27. No it doesn't....

only chain restaurants must list their calorie counts.

I love that law. It helps me a lot.

I hate this law, however. Stupid. Aunt Ethel and her baked zucchini bread should be allowed to be sold at BAKE SALES!!!! It's the packaged BS that is worse for the kids, anyhow!

[Thothmes]

37. Gotta love Government looking out for our best interests

even if we dont seem them as in our best interests.

[Captain Hilts]

4. Packaged food is 'safer'. There's a logic to this rule. nt

[Rebubula]

18. Logic...

...and idiocy.

God...I am so freaking glad that I grew up in a era where there were bake sales, kids played in the woods, climbed trees and society was not an overbearing prick.

[Captain Hilts]

21. Yes, it's a silly rule. I agree. But I 'get' their logic even if I don't agree with it. nt

[no_hypocrisy]

5. GM processed food with loads of sodium is FAR BETTER than chocolate and sugar . . . .

:sarcasm:

[Libertas1776]

6. Bloomberg and co.

were already off the deep end. Its NYC that went off the deep end when they re-elected that scumbag.

[unabelladonna]

31. absurd...

NYC was once a really great city. the developers have turned it into a theme park for the rich and famous. i've seen beautiful neighborhoods (the west village, greenwich village and chelsea) become inundated with grotesque glass skyscrapers which dwarf lovely and historic brownstones and early 20th century buildings. it's symptomatic of bloomberg's napoleon complex..../he's trying to micro-manage everything...even the way people eat. i don't go to restaurants to be reminded of how many calories or sodium is in my meal.

[SoCalDem]

9. I was devastated when we moved here when our boys were grade-schoolers

We came from an area that delighted in celebrating kid's birthdays at school. Moms would bring in cupcakes for the class on their kid's birthday. When we moved here, I did the same for my son, and got a phone call from the teacher telling me that "we don't do that here"..and told me to come & get the cupcakes.

The reason? "Some" Moms don't have time, so we stopped doing it..and they also stopped the classroom Valentine-thing too..why? because "Some" Moms didn't have time to get valentines for their kids.

Your kid has ONE birthday a year, and it seems that on that ONE day , with all that time to pre-plan, surely there is time..

For the kids whose birthdays were in the summertime, they used to have a pizza party with a sheet cake for them, the week before school let out, so no one was left out.

I'll add that this was for K-about 4th grade..

[Berry Cool]

32. If there weren't this culturally embedded concept that it has to be "moms" who make the cupcakes

maybe you wouldn't have that issue.

I say, let DAD make the cupcakes. Why should Mom always be the one to feel guilty if she hasn't time?

I swear, it's like we've not moved forward one inch from the 1950s sometimes.

[Statistical]

10. The stupid is so powerful. Homemade muffins = bad but doritos & poptarts = good.

It is like 1984 meets Iron Chef.

Double Plus unhealthy.

[Ozymanithrax]

11. Concerned about obesity, but Pop-Tarts and Doritos are good.

Are they concerned that there ain't enough obese children, or that corporate profits might lag?

[KittyWampus]

12. Parents/kids volunteer to bake in school kitchen. Using approved recipes. Problems solved.c

[brooklynite]

17. 1) What school kitchen? 2) What Department comes up with "approved recipies"?

[KittyWampus]

19. there are websites/recipe books that do post nutritional info for recipes. So if School Principal

signs off, that "yes, these oatmeal raisin cookies contain xyz" that might work.

The issue seems to be posting of nutrional info etc.

Then, if issue is baking in inspected kitchen- most schools I've been in have kitchens. As do many houses of worship. Or maybe a local business could loan space for a few hours.

[beevul]

13. The world is going mad.

Zero tolerance...cars that accelerate all by themselves...laptops that can have the webcams activated remotely by people from the schools...and now this.



The world is going mad.


Stark raving.

[KittyWampus]

15. Would you post this in the Lounge? It's true, yet horrifying funny at the same time.

[beevul]

22. I don't know whether...

I don't know whether to laugh or be alarmed or to be angry - or all of the above - about this stuff sometimes.

I wasn't the Op, but feel free to post it in the lounge if you wish.

[krabigirl]

28. Yep. I'm considering homeschooling due to this, but I don't know.

[State the Obvious]

14. Things have changed since you were in school....

...or maybe I should just speak for myself....since I was in school. I think it is a SAFE idea.....and not only about obesity.

A few years ago....a person could get quite "creative" with their baked goods.....(including brownies)....using pot or ExLax as an essential ingredient! Now we have to be careful of everything....diabetic children staying away from sugar....or children with life-threatening allergies (like peanuts) being careful of what they eat. It might not make sense, but it is a safe way to avoid problems AND lawsuits.

Times have changed.

[NoNothing]

25. Yet the danger is no greater

We have simply whipped up more fear.

FEAR! DANGER! YOUR NEIGBORS MIGHT BE POISONING YOUR CHILDREN! Of course, we can protect you, just give us control...

[State the Obvious]

29. I am not being an alarmist....just trying to express another viewpoint.....

Your frantic form of self-expression is more about you,...... than it is about me.

[Initech]

20. I'll take the cool-ranch flavored brownies and some homemade cheetos please.

[ctaylors6]

23. Allergy and food safety issues are also big reasons why

[aquart]

Oh, that is RIDICULOUS.

Amazing how few kids we've managed to kill with a century of bake sales.

[yellowcanine]

24. So I guess hash brownies are out also. Oh well.

[jmowreader]

36. I think this is the real reason

We had a LOT of bake sales in my school, and Andy Bauer's baked goods, which he baked by himself, were always a huge hit. Apparently the administration either didn't know Andy was baking them himself, or didn't realize Andy was the biggest pothead in school.

Well, now the Andy Bauers are running the schools, and they remember the pot brownies they made for the bake sales..."oh SHIT! These kids might turn out like us...you know, successful."

[JI7]

30. why are pop tarts and doritos ok ? this is just soooooo stupid, these baked sales aren't the reason

for obesity.

[surrealAmerican]

34. Whoever made that list of ...

... "27 specific packaged items that have been approved" seems not to have been considering their nutritional value. Why were these foods approved?

[kitkat65]

35. This seriously sounds like a South Park episode. n/t