State of the States: The High School Competitive Food Environment

In 2011, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released new data detailing what snack foods and beverages are being sold in secondary schools across the United States. This report evaluates those CDC data and explores the current state of the school nutrition environment and opportunities for additional progress. As part of the CDC's biennial School Health Profiles, high school principals and lead health education teachers completed surveys regarding aspects of the school health environment. Results were reported as the percentage of schools within a state that have a particular healthy practice in place, along with the median and range across all states. States were ranked based on the availability of different types of snack foods in schools, and data from the past several years was explored. Overall, data demonstrates that from 2002 to 2008, states made significant progress at improving school snack food environments; however, progress has since plateaued. Currently, a substantial number of schools in over 40 states regularly offer high-calorie, low-nutrient snack foods to students, while access to fruits and vegetables is minimal. Although many schools have made efforts to improve their snack food environment, more work is needed to create a healthy snack food environment for all students across the country.

This data supports the need for a federal policy to improve nutrition standards of school snack foods and beverages .