Camden bans school bake sales in its fight against childhood obesity

Camden bans school bake sales in its fight against childhood obesity

Since adopting the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s national policy for healthier school meals earlier this year, the Camden School District has been serving more fruits and vegetables.

But students were still getting their fill of pizza, giant soft pretzels and cookies at various fund-raising events after school.

Not any more.

A new school district wellness policy, adopted by the Board of Education on Nov. 27, bans bake sales and other food-related fund-raisers.

“The cheesecakes and pizza, we want them to get away from that,” said Valeria Galarza, project manager for New Jersey Partnership for Healthy Kids in Camden, which helped write the district’s new policy.

District food service provider Aramark and the Rutgers Cooperative Extension of Camden County also were involved in the drafting the new policy.

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