Text Production for Junk Food (Argumentative) #2

As the name suggests, junk food is something edible but non-nutritious and non-beneficial to health (Smith 2005). According to Health Foundation (2005), approximately 50% of the most popular snack foods ranging from biscuits to flavoured yogurt have low nutritional values. The addiction towards junk food can be evidenced by the fact that more than half of the contemporary Australian schoolchildren have their meals in school where abundance of junk food is available (Tran 2005). Junk food manages to gain loyalty among buyers and sellers as it is highly flavoured and can be easily accessed and brings supernormal profits. Nonetheless, it is indispensable to ban the sale of junk food in school canteens for several reasons.

First of all, the high-kilojoule-content junk food triggers childhood obesity. Most junk food contains high proportion of flavour and fat to enhance its taste (Smith 2005). Besides partaking junk food in school canteens, children have the tendency to consume it at home too. This is revealed by the chart published by Australian Nutrition Journal (2004) whereby most of the 12-14-year-old children in 2003 have more intakes of fat and sugar than recommended. Fresh fruit and vegetables were neglected badly. It is the overconsumption of food with high contents of fat and sugar that causes obesity among the children. They even speculate its consumption as safe since it is allowed in school and thus, indulging themselves in it. Consequently, it leads to unfavourable weight gain.

Furthermore, other health problems can also be originated from the frequent consumption of junk food. Based on the information given by The Food Show (2005), junk food reduces the intake of nutritious food by the schoolchildren. Consequently, their health development, growth and learning potential are adversely affected as all of these require a balanced diet. Research study also proved that reduction of junk food helped in improving the children’s daily conduct. Their behaviour can be deviated due to the chemical additives contents in the unhealthy food. Hence, by banning the sale of junk food in school canteens, the disciplinary problems among the schoolchildren can be overcome.

Last but not least, prohibition of junk food sale in school canteens can minimise the litter problem in the school vicinity too. Junk food is packaged and the schoolchildren tend to throw the packages indiscriminately. Litter is a bad habit as it not only causes hazard to the people nearby but also degrades the image of the citizens in the eyes of the outsiders (Smith 2005). Moreover, litter also reduces the effort spent in maintenance projects by the school groundsmen as cleaning requires much effort. Hence, stopping junk food sale can assist in improving the school hygiene and facilities, beneficial to all school occupants.

In a nutshell, the sale of junk food should be forbidden in school canteens by virtue of several factors, namely the degradation of schoolchildren’s health and environmental damage. School News (2005) showed that canteen profits were directly proportional to the sale of junk food. Therefore, it is understandable that the sale can hardly be stamped out completely due to the high profits offered in a short span of time. For the sake of our future generations, it is important to educate the children about the detrimental effects of junk food by both parents and school teachers so that the knowledge can act as a deterrent.