Thousands of tweens and teens across the country are choking up when they dig into a bag of Flamin’ Hot Cheetos, and it’s not because the spicy snack burns on the way down. Rather, some school districts are banning the crunchy corn puffs, claiming the cheesy treat is hazardous to kids’ health.
The news has brought some students to tears, while others are flamin’ mad that school administrators would make such a bold move.
According to CBS News, the Cheetos brouhaha started when a health teacher from Lyndon B. Johnson Middle School in Albuquerque, New Mexico, sent a note home with students saying that Flamin’ Hot Cheetos should not be snacked on at school due to its lack of nutritional value.
For the record, one-ounce of Flamin’ Hot Cheetos (roughly 21 pieces) contains about 160 calories. It also includes 17 percent of the daily suggested serving for fat and 8 percent of serving for saturated fat. Though, more alarming is the amount of sodium the little cheese doddles contain–a whopping 250 mg or 10 percent of the daily value.
The New Mexico teacher also noted that the red-colored cheese dust which coats Flamin’ Hot Cheetos left messy fingerprints all over the school and created more work for janitors.
So, if teens were more diligent about wiping their cheese powder-covered fingers on napkins instead of walls and tables there’d be no need for a ban?
Not likely.
In fact, it seems there’s no turning back on the ban. According to news reports, other school districts are now are extinguishing the Flamin’ Hot Cheetos frenzy. Schools in California are attempting to eliminate the savory snack from campuses, while one school district in Illinois removed Flamin’ Hot Cheetos from all of its vending machines, though it hasn’t gone as far as banning the puffs from the cafeteria entirely.
“If children were to bring in snacks that are high in fat, high in calories, that’s their choice,” Illinois’ Rockford School District interim superintendent Robert Willis told ABC News. “We’re not going to be providing those kinds of foods.”
As for Frito-Lay, the manufacturer of Flamin’ Hot Cheetos, it told CBS News it’s “committed to responsible and ethical marketing practices, which includes not marketing our products to children ages 12 and under. We also do not decide which snacks are available on school campuses and do not sell snack products directly to schools.”
Rather, Frito-Lay maintains that decision is left up to parents. If you want your kids crunching on a high sodium, high fat snack, and then wiping their red tinted fingers on your furniture, that’s your call.
What’s your take on the Flamin’ Hot Cheetos ban? Do you feel there are worse snacks your child could be consuming?
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