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Comment by hedora | Hacker News Reader

This just keeps getting worse and worse, with no end in sight. I recently looked at the school lunch ingredient lists here in California. The hamburger buns contain both corn syrup and sucralose (splenda). I really wonder what the rationale is.

I guess they need to put the splenda in so that they screw up all the kids' metabolism + gut microbes, but they also need to make sure the food isn't accidentally diabetic safe?

Maybe I shouldn't be surprised. This is the same bureaucracy that defunded science and art education, and attempted to defund calculus (so that only rich districts with educational foundations would have those things). I kind of suspect it's some sort of intentional long-game eugenics program. I wonder if there is some way for rich Californian parents to band together to pay extra for non-malicious school lunches (as with science and art education).

(Or, better, force the state government to stop sucking so much!)

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i think a big part of it is people simply don't value good food and don't see it as impacting health. Crazy as it sounds, i've had otherwise intelligent people tell me they don't think the food they eat has any impact on their health. That was a big eye opener for me, in terms of what other people think.

When cookies were removed from schools, some parents even protested (literally protested, as in with signs and petitioning outside of the school marching back and forth -> i saw it on the news) for the cookies to be put back in !!!! My jaw nearly dropped to the floor and rolled out the door. It's just clear, that there's a lot of really really misinformed people in the world.

Also, not all healthy food is expensive. Organic Beans are super low cost and make an excellent staple. Personally, I also love oat meal. both are super high in nutrients, fiber and protein and very low cost.

Fiber can inhibit the absorption of some nutrients, so be mindful of when you consume it in regards to vitamins or supplements.

The hamburger buns contain both corn syrup and sucralose (splenda). I really wonder what the rationale is.

They want to make the buns tasty but don't want too many calories. Makes sense to me.

You don't need sugar to make bread tasty. Especially savory bread.

Most industrially baked breads contain sugar. Typically 2-5g per slice. I haven't really had industrial bread without sugar, but it doesn't surprise me that the sugar is required for taste. "Good" bread has long ferment periods that gives the bread a lot of time to develop flavor. It's probably much faster to cut the long ferment periods and use sugar for flavor instead.

It's a trade-off between food that's entirely healthy and food the majority of kids (who are not accustomed to a healthy diet) will actually eat. There's a huge amount of food waste in schools. If you don't have kids in US public schools, just know it's pretty common for kids to get a full school lunch just to eat the fries or drink the milk/juice, and discard the rest. Similarly for school breakfasts with things like frosted flakes. Absolutely not healthy, but if the alternative is not eating at all, it's understandable that administrators feel obligated to compromise.

> if the alternative is not eating at all

Anyone who has kids and have insisted on a healthy diet knows this is false. Kids won’t eat for a while but then, like everyone else, they will eat most anything when hunger is strong enough.

> pretty common for kids to get a full school lunch just to eat the fries

It an educational establishment, perhaps it should start with some basic nutrition education.

Why should the bread be sweet in the first place?

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