Final Version of Junk Food

‘Junk food’ is commonly used to describe any unhealthy and low nutritional value food (Smith 2005). According to Weekend News (2005), the nutritional value of food consumed by Australian children has been decreasing progressively over the past 30 years. This shows the increased availability and consumption of fast food. The society becomes more aware of the effects from consuming the junk food, leading to arguments on whether the sale of the junk food should be banned or not. I strongly believe that sales of junk food should be banned due to the health reasons, litter problems and behavioural problems.

First of all, the consumption of junk food will lead to health problems among children as most of the junk foods contain synthetic flavour, colouring and food addictive. Junk foods like instant noodles, chips, soft drinks, and chocolate bars will increase the kilojoules intake and lead to weight gain (Weekend News). From the statistic in Australian Nutrition Journal (2004), foods eaten at home by 12-14 years old Australian children are unhealthy as they consume fats and sugar more than the recommended intake. Reynolds mentions that foods which are high in fat and sugar contribute to the problem of childhood obesity (Weekend News 2005). Childhood obesity will also lead to other diseases, for instance heart diseases, osteoarthritis, and some cancers (Weekend News 2005).

The sale of junk food in school canteen should be banned as it also causes litter problems. The packaging of the junk food is the major contributor to litter problems. Litter has negative effects to our safety and health, increases the cleaning cost, and damages the image of the communities (Smith 2005). To reduce the litter problems, schools need to cut down the sale of junk foods. This is further elaborated by Green, he states that after school canteen removed the sale of junk food and soft drink, time spends on cleaning become less and the school can spend more time on maintenance projects that benefit the school (The Food Show 2005).

Besides that, junk food can trigger behavioural problems in children. Addictives and chemical substances in the junk food will cause bad behaviours such as hyperactivity and poor concentration in children. When the junk foods are available at school, they will affect the healthy development and growth of students (The Food Show 2005). So, junk foods should be removed from the school. This is supported by Green, he comments that after removed junk food and soft drink from school canteen, the student become calmer after lunch and there is improvement in their behaviour in class.

As a conclusion, I strongly agree that the sale of junk food should be banned in the school canteen as it brings harm more than good to the children. In The Food Show (2005), Karimi says that students’ welfare, safety and health are the responsible of the schools, so schools need to take good care of the students. As the saying goes, “Prevention is better than cure”, to ensure the healthy lifestyle and development of the children, school should remove the junk food from the canteen and sell healthy and high nutritional value foods.