Black markets for condiments pop up in school cafeterias thanks to Mrs. Obama

First Lady Michelle Obama’s Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act has led to some unintended consequences, perhaps the saddest of which is an “underground school cafeteria economy” for items like salt, pepper and sugar.

This was the testimony of John S. Payne, president of Blackford County School Board of Trustees in Hartford City, Indiana.

Payne’s words echo those of many other school personnel around the country regarding the HHFKA.

The Washington Free Beacon reports:

“Perhaps the most colorful example in my district is that students have been caught bringing–and even selling–salt, pepper, and sugar in school to add taste to perceived bland and tasteless cafeteria food,” [Payne] said.

“This ‘contraband’ economy is just one example of many that reinforce the call for flexibility [with the rules],” he said.

Payne noted other problems with the “one-size-fits-all” approach to providing healthier meals to students, including fewer kids participating in the program and higher food waste. The trend started in 2012, when the school lunch law, which was championed by Mrs. Obama, went into effect.

“Students are avoiding cafeteria food,” Payne said. “More students bring their lunch, and a few parents even ‘check out’ their child from campus, taking them to a local fast-food restaurant or home for lunch.”

Payne also said school fundraisers like bake sales, have been canceled due to the rules, and “whole-grain items and most of the broccoli end up in the trash” in his district.

Dr. Lynn Harvey agreed that the whole-grain requirement is not working, as kids refuse to eat dense and dry biscuits, and “unpalatable” grits.

“When it comes to whole grain-rich variations of biscuits, grits, crackers and cornbread, all too often, students simply toss them into the trash cans,” said Harvey, who serves as chief of school nutrition services at the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction, which oversees lunch programs for schools that enroll 1.5 million students.

The Beacon notes that over one million students have ditched cafeteria food since Mrs. Obama’s program went into effect.