Why Not Ban Them Anyway?

No one argues that hot dogs are a health food. Though the science doesn't support a link to cancer, hot dogs are still high in fat and calories, and not the most healthy food in the world. So what's wrong with telling the USDA to stop selling them to schools?

With the exception of turkey and ham, the USDA does not provide processed meat to public schools

• Processed meat is typically provided by local vendors
• Protein is necessary to a child's diet, and they are more willing to eat hot dogs than other sources of protein
• Processed meats are the most economical way to provide protein to large groups of children
• Real meat as a substitute to processed meat is not only more expensive, it brings raw meat into school kitchens, greatly increasing the risk of spreading food-borne illness
• An occasional hot dog is not unhealthy
• Parents often provide the same processed meat to their children at home because it is a quick, easy, and cost-effective way to include protein in their diet
• Banning hot dogs from school lunch doesn't prevent parents from sending their kids to school with bologna

A balanced diet is important, and traditions learned as children often carry into adulthood. However, the ideal diet is beyond the budget of most public schools and impractical to implement on such a large scale. The responsibility for healthy diet belongs at home with parents. Proper habits learned at home are longer-lasting than those learned at school. Even kids know the food they eat at school isn't always good for them, but they trust their parents. Banning hot dogs at school would achieve no lasting result in our children's health.