Lunchables are to be removed from the menu in schools across America. The company that makes Lunchables, Kraft Heinz, said on Tuesday that it will pull the meal kits out of the National School Lunch Program.
Kraft Heinz said in an emailed statement that the product was withdrawn because demand was not as high as expected but the company will bring back the product again in the future.
The decision follows Consumer Reports’ testing of the school versions of the grocery store snacks for sodium, lead and cadmium.
“We are glad that Heinz Kraft has withdrawn Lunchables from the school lunch program,” Brian Ronholm, director of food policy at Consumer Reports said in a statement.
“The USDA should retain higher standards of eligibility for the school lunch programs so that the millions of kids that depend on it are provided with the better meals they need.”
The National School Lunch Program –– a federally assisted program that offers low-cost and free nutritious meals to learners –– feeds nearly 30 million children, the US Department of Agriculture Food and Nutrition Service states.
The Amount Of Sodium In The School Lunches
Two types of Lunchables were brought into the school lunch program last year: Turkey & Cheddar Cracker Stackers and Extra Cheesy Pizza.
Consumer Reports discovered that the kits – developed for the school lunch program – had even more sodium than store-bought ones.
The sodium content of the store-bought lunch and snack kits it tested had 460 to 740 milligrams per serving, or “nearly a quarter to half of a child’s daily recommended limit for sodium,” according to Consumer Reports.
The turkey and cheddar school versions of Lunchables contained 930 milligrams of sodium, compared to 740 milligrams in the store-bought version.
Last year, Tom Vilsack, US Secretary of Agriculture, has suggested a plan to modify the school food guidelines to decrease sodium and added sugar levels in stages.
High sodium intake is said to increase blood pressure and the likelihood of heart attack and stroke by the US CDC.
The school version of Lunchables did contain higher levels of protein and whole grains than the grocery store versions, though, as Kraft Heinz has stated before.
“Last year, we introduced two Lunchables options that are NSLP compliant and that offered increased protein to schools,” the company said in a statement on Tuesday.
“Although many school administrators were glad to have these options, the demand did not meet the expectations.
This occurs from time to time throughout the organization, particularly when it is diversifying into new sales markets.
Lunchables products are not available in schools this year and we would like to come back at a later time.
The sales of Lunchables that are compliant with NSLP for the last school year were below 1% of the total Lunchables sales, hence the business effect is insignificant.”
Lead And Cadmium
In addition to Lunchables, Consumer Reports also prepared other store-bought meal kits such as Armour LunchMakers, Good & Gather, Greenfield Natural Meat Co., and Oscar Mayer.
But Consumer Reports also discovered that every lunch kit contained lead, cadmium or both and that sodium levels were higher than in other lunch kits.
The WHO has identified cadmium as causing kidney and bone disease and cancer. Being natural components heavy metals like lead and cadmium are present in the soil in which crops are grown and hence cannot be eliminated.
But some crop fields and regions possess more toxic levels than others, mainly because of excessive usage of metal-containing pesticides and constant industrial pollution.
There is no safe level of lead for children, however, according to the CDC.
Lead stays in the body and builds up over time, a process called bioaccumulation. That’s why even extremely low levels of ongoing exposure can become toxic.
Infants are particularly vulnerable because a smaller dose of lead can have a larger health effect on them compared with other children and adults.