A prohibition of junk food sponsored by the government in schools throughout Mexico entered into force on Saturday, authorities said, since the country tries to address one of the worst epidemics of obesity and diabetes of the world.
Health guidelines, published for the first time last fall, take a direct opportunity of salty and sweet processed products that have become a basic element for generations of Mexican schoolchildren, such as sugary fruits of fruits, packaged fries, artificial pork and peanut peels with flavors chilled with chili.
By announcing that the prohibition had become law, the Ministry of Education of Mexico published in X: “Goodbye, junk food!” He encouraged parents to support the government’s crusade cooking healthy meals for their children.
“One of the central principles of the New Mexican School System is healthy life,” said Mario Delgado, the Secretary of Public Health. “There is a high level of acceptance of this policy among parents.”
Mexico’s ambitious attempt to redo its food culture and reprogram, the next generation of consumers is being observed closely worldwide while governments struggle to change the course of an epidemic of global obesity.
In the United States, for example, the Secretary of Health of the Trump Administration, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., has promised to dump the nation’s food system and “make the United States again healthy” by attacking ultra -processed foods to stop obesity and disease.
According to Mexico’s new request, schools must eliminate any food and drink that even exhibits a black warning logo that marks it as high in salt, sugar, calories and fats. Mexico implemented that mandatory labeling system of the package front in 2020.
Forced from Monday morning, the beginning of the school week, the prohibition of junk food also requires that schools serve more nutritious alternatives to junk food, such as bean tacos, and offer drinking water.
“It is much better to eat a bean taco than a bag of fries,” Mexican president Claudia Sheinbaum said, who has defended the ban.
The children of Mexico consume more junk food than in any other place in Latin America, according to UNICEF, which classifies the epidemic of child obesity of the nation as an emergency. Sugary drinks and highly processed foods represent 40% of the total calories that children consume in one day, the agency reports.
“In my daughter’s school, they told us that future activities would not have sweets, it would be completely different, with fruits, vegetables and other foods that are healthy for children,” said Aurora Martínez, a two -year -old mother. “It will help us a lot.”
A third of Mexican children are already considered overweight or obesity, according to government statistics.
School administrators found in violation of the order face rigid fines, ranging from $ 545 to $ 5,450.
But the application raises a challenge in a country where previous prohibitions of junk food have struggled to gain traction and monitoring has been lax in the 255,000 schools in Mexico, many of which lack water sources, even on the Internet and reliable electricity.
Nor was it immediately clear how the government would prohibit the sale of junk food on sidewalks outside the school campuses, where street vendors generally sweet made, french fries, nachos and ice cream to children during the recess and after the school day ends.
“It will be difficult,” said April Geraldine Rose de León, a childhood therapist. “But in the long run it will be achieved.”
