Have you ever tried Flamin' Hot Cheetos? The spicy version of Cheetos are currently under fire from school administrators — much to the dismay of Flamin' Hot-obsessed students.
According to ABC News, school districts in California and
New Mexico are currently trying to ban the unhealthy snack, citing health
concerns as the main reason. School officials are worried about children who
consume Flamin' Hot Cheetos on a regular basis because of the high fat, salt, and calorie
content.
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Some school districts in other states have stopped offering the product. For example, the Rockford School District in Illinois
didn't want to be responsible for feeding its students such an unhealthy
snack. The district used to sell around 150,000 bags per year.
In addition to being unhealthy, some experts explain that
Flamin' Hot Cheetos are particularly "hyperpalatable," meaning that these
Cheetos can be considered an addictive food. This news isn't particularly
surprising given the thousands of fans that have joined Flamin' Hot Cheetos
groups on Facebook, not to mention the 1,000 plus videos about Flamin' Hot
Cheetos currently on Youtube.
Despite other chips and snacks having similarly bad
nutritional information, there seems to be an outpouring of adult criticisms against
this particular variety. The Huffington Post reports that a health teacher at a
middle school in New Mexico recently sent a letter to parents citing four
reasons why Hot Cheetos should be kept at home. First was nutritional value,
second students use the snack as a replacement lunch, third the students spread
germs while sharing their Hot Cheetos, and finally that the food coloring
creates a mess for the janitors who are forced to clean up red fingerprints.
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While school administrators have used nutritional
information as the reasoning for banning Hot Cheetos, it seems the extreme
popularity of the chip is also a factor. Kids have been known to down a bag of
the spicy snack for breakfast and consumers consistently eat entire bags in one
sitting, ignoring the serving size amounts.
Do you think schools should ban Flamin' Hot Cheetos? Should Hot Cheetos be considered worse than other chips and snacks?
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