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Cafeteria calamity

Photo courtesy of kansasagnetwork.org

While everyone knows that drowning a chicken sandwich in ranch dressing is in no way healthy, it was a right students had at MC. This year, however, cafeteria health standards have eliminated that possibility, along with several other condiment combinations.

The menu in the cafeteria has been altered, and now students are adjusting to the lack of pizza strips and unlimited condiments. Dressings and sauces are now assigned specifically to certain food items. For example, a student can only get ketchup with  a chicken sandwich. The popular cookies have also been downsized and cost 50 cents instead of 75.

The reason for these changes is something schools all across the country are combating. Obesity. San Diego has a pretty good obesity rate when put up against other American cities, but compared to other countries the number of overweight people is astronomical. So the first place to make changes is in the students’ daily lunches, which are monitored carefully to keep the calorie count reasonable.

“Our nutritionist specialist Emily Cena goes up and she coordinates everything by nutrients and calorie count,” cafeteria advisor Lisa Surita said.

Tightened restrictions on the contents of cafeteria food have gotten rid of some unhealthy lunches, the most prominent of which is the pizza strips.

“It makes me really upset because that made up about 75 percent of my diet during the school year,” sophomore Nicole Glidden said.

While students may be mourning the loss of their beloved pizza strips, their calorie intake will be improved.

“Fat content,” Surita said. “Mrs. Obama is saying that our food is making you kids fat. So they’re not allowed to sell that food, and because the pizza strips are very fattening we took them off the menu.”

For the rest of the year, MC will continue to adapt to the healthier alternatives.

Written by Annie Price

Annie is a senior and a co-editor-in-chief for the MC Sun. Her hobbies include dodging questions about her future, driving on an empty tank of gas, and forcing people to look at pictures of her dogs.

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