Ask and you shall receive. But not always for the reasons you expected. Lunchables are being pulled from School Lunch programs across the US. Consumer Reports called for the move earlier this year…
Consumer Reports and other advocacy groups had called for the removal of Lunchables kids’ lunch packs from school lunch programs after analyses found they were 100 percent composed of proces-sed or ultra-processed foods and contained high level of sodium.
Heavy metals high, too..
Then a separate study revealed high levels of lead in the popular, convenient lunch kits. it was once again Consumer Reports that found lead levels in ‘Lunchables’-type products it tested ranged from a low of just 7 percent of California’s maximum allowable dose level (MADL) to a whopping 74 percent.
That may sound okay on it’s face. But heavy metals such as lead, mercury and cadmium build up in the body over time, with long-term consumption.
Not why we thought
When I heard that the plastic-portion-packed cheese, meat and cracker products had been removed from the US National School Lunch Program (NSLP), I assumed it was a reaction by the Program to the study findings. But that wasn’t the case.
The pull-out was something much more prosaic. Maker Kraft/Heinz had been monitoring the situa-tion and decided that demand for the products wasn’t strong enough for it to continue providing them in that ‘market niche’.
Less than 1 percent of sales
“Last year, we brought two NSLP-compliant Lunchables options to schools that had increased pro-tein,” the company said in a statement earlier this week. “While many school administrators were excited to have these options, the demand did not meet our targets.”
Kraft/Heinz reported, “The NSLP-compliant Lunchables sales last school year were far less than 1% of overall Lunchables sales, so business impact is negligible.”
The company did say it may ‘revisit’ its decision to remove Lunchables from the schools ‘at a future date’.
Meanwhile…
Consumer Reports is happy to see the Lunchables products out of the schools: “We’re pleased that Heinz Kraft has pulled Lunchables from the school lunch program,” Brian Ronholm, Director of Food Policy at Consumer Reports said in a statement. “The USDA should maintain stricter eligibility stand-ards for the school lunch programs so that the millions of kids that depend on it get the healthier options they deserve.”
The NSLP is a federally-assisted program designed to provide low-cost or free nutritionally bal-anced lunches to students in elementary schools and high schools. According to the US Department of Agriculture’s Food and Nutrition Service, it serves nearly 30 million kids.
My take
Given the numbers of kids in the potential market segment for NSLP-approved Lunchables, and the dismal sales figures quoted by Kraft/Heinz, the company must have been not only surprised but severely disappointed by the response.
On the other hand, it’s a clear indication that kids are overwhelmingly choosing the more-nutritious food options offered under the program. And that’s good news for us all…
~ Maggie J.