American Beverage Association reports decline IN soda sales at schools; critics not satisfied

Food & Drink Weekly, Dec 5, 2005

The amount of non-diet soft drinks sold in American schools declined more than 24 percent between 2002 and 2004, according to an American Beverage Association report. Over that same two-year period, the amount of sports drinks sold increased nearly 70 percent, while bottled water, diet soda, and fruit juice increased by 23 percent, 22 percent and 15 percent, respectively, the Associated Press reported.

Even with the decline, regular soft drinks still have the highest sales in U.S. schools, accounting for 45 percent of beverages sold in 2005, compared to 57 percent in 2002, the beverage industry said. From 2002 to 2005, the amount of sports drinks sold increased from nearly 7 percent to more than 14 percent, and water jumped from 9 percent to nearly 13 percent, the AP reported.

The report is seen as an effort to ease lawsuit threats against soft-drink companies. In addition, many schools have limited or banned soda sales in response to mounting concerns about childhood obesity, the AP account said.

Susan Neely, president of the American Beverage Association, said the report demonstrates that social pressure is sufficient to deal with concerns about what beverages are sold in schools. "Litigation and legislation aren't the answers to a complex social problem. Consumer preferences are changing and the choices students are making from school vending machines are reflecting that," she said.

However, critics said new laws and threats of lawsuits have helped push many schools to implement stricter beverage policies. Marion Nestle, a nutrition professor at New York University and critic of the soda industry said that while pleased that soft drink sales have dropped, she was disappointed that sports drinks seem to be taking their place. Though most sports drinks have fewer calories than regular soda, many still have a considerable amount of sugar. "It's a substitution of one bad product for another," she said.

Erik Peterson, spokesman for the School Nutrition Association, attributed the changes to widespread school policies limiting access to soda and junk food.

This week, a committee of the Institute of Medicine, chartered by Congress to advise the government on medical matters, will discuss setting nutrition standards for food and drink served in schools. Neely's group has its own standard for vending machines--a half-and-half mix of regular soda and noncarbonated drinks.

Richard Daynard, director of the obesity and law project at Northeastern University School of Law in Boston, said new laws and threats of lawsuits are the only reason so many schools have adopted more restrictive policies. Daynard is one of the lawyers spearheading a proposed big tobacco-style lawsuit--which he hopes to file by the end of the year--accusing soft drink companies of using caffeine to hook school children on high-calorie beverages. "If her (Neely's) figures are correct, I think it may be a tribute to the role of legislation and concerns about litigation, rather than a refutation of it," Daynard said.