Vending Machine Replacement: The Wrong Answer

In the past few years, the majority of high school's and elementary schools have disposed of their junk food/soda vending machines for healthy alternatives. Walking along the upper floors of the SFU Surrey campus, you can see that the vending machines are also full of nutritional alternatives. While this may take a small portion of junk food out of a small faction of students, the truth remains that underneath the campus sits Surrey Central mall.

What does a mall have to do with vending machines? This mall, like many malls, contains a food court where fast food locations like A&W, KFC, New York Fries, and several others sell the equally unhealthy products that no longer can be purchased on campus. What good is a school that has removed junk food, when you can get some one flight of stairs down? When faced with the decision on a meal greater than a snack sized portion, these places hold a signifigant weight on the choice. Would you prefer to have a hearty sandwich, or a hearty chicken burger with greasy fries?

Removing vending machines is a good start, but not the one hit wonder it is expected to be with regards to healthier eating. In order to have more of an effect, more has to be done in terms of discounting in the food court towards some of the healthier locations available. Subway already gives students a small discount, but perhaps a greater discount could have more influence on the decision that students make on where to go to get a bite to eat.

For example, from Subway a cold cut combo has 250 calories, and 15.0g total fat. Compare that to the small fries from New York Fries (400 calories, 19.0g total fat) and KFC's original chicken sandwich (320 calories, 13.0g total fat). The scary thing is that the sandwich from Subway is twice as large as the other two meals. That means you are getting far more calories from the fries or chicken sandwich, and they are only half the serving size compared to the cold cut combo. The bottom line is Subway's options are far better in terms of nutritional value, and provide excellent serving sizes to fill someone up.

What is being suggested is not a return of junk food vending machines, but rather a broader view of the health situation at the SFU Surrey campus. If administration were to work out a much more beneficial discount with Subway for students, then the underwhelming effects of the vending machine change could hold some justification. By forcing students to head to the food court to get something tasty, they will most likely be far more inclined to eat at Subway with a nice discount, than at New York Fries or KFC.

Sources:

http://caloriecount.about.com/