The government-sponsored junk food ban at schools across Mexico came into effect on Saturday, authorities said the country is attempting to tackle one of the world’s worst obesity and diabetes epidemics.
Health guidelines, first published last fall, will take a direct photo of salty and sweet processed products that have become staples for Mexican school children, including sweet fruit drinks, packaged chips and chili-flavored peanuts wrapped in soybeans.
Announcing that the ban has become law, Mexican Ministry of Education posted on X: “Farewell, junk food!” It encouraged parents to support the government’s crusades by cooking healthy meals for their children.
“One of the core principles of the New Mexico school system is healthy living,” said Mario Delgado, Secretary of Public Health. “There is a high level of acceptance among parents that is being made possible.”
Ambitious attempts to reshape Mexican food culture and reprogram the next generation of consumers are being watched closely all over the world as governments struggle to turn the tide into the global obesity epidemic.
In the US, for example, Trump administration’s health secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., vowed to overturn the country’s food system and “make America healthy again” by targeting ultra-processed foods to curb the surge in obesity and illness.
Under Mexico’s new order, schools should phase out foods and drinks that even display one black warning logo that contains salt, sugar, calories and fat. Mexico implemented its forced package labeling system in 2020.
The junk food ban, which was forced from Monday morning, the start of school week, also requires schools to offer more nutritious alternatives to junk foods such as bean tacos and provide regular drinking water.
“It’s much better to eat bean tacos than a bag of potato chips,” said Mexican President Claudia Sinbaum, who defended the ban.
According to UNICEF, Mexican children consume more junk food than anywhere else in Latin America. This classifies the country’s childhood obesity epidemic as an emergency. Sugared drinks and highly processed foods account for 40% of the total calories children consume in a day, the agency reports.
“At my daughter’s school, they said there were no candies in future activities and were completely different to fruits, vegetables and other foods that are healthy for the child,” said Aurora Martinez, mother of the two. “It helps us a lot.”
According to government statistics, a third of Mexican children are already considered overweight or obese.
The school administrators who are violated for breaching their orders have violated harsh fines in the range of $545 to $5,450.
But enforcement has pose a challenge in a country where previous junk food bans struggle to gain traction, with sluggish surveillance at 255,000 schools in Mexico, many of which lack water fountains.
It was also not immediately clear how the government was banning the sale of junk food on sidewalks outside school campuses. There, street vendors usually hok the kids candies, chips, nachos and ice cream during breaks and after school day is over.
“It’s going to be difficult,” said child therapist Abril Geraldine Rose de Leon. “But that will be achieved in the long term.”
