After complaints about McDonald’s restaurants in hospital cafeterias leaked in the media, a new related subject comes in focus. The question asked now is whether or not jails should have junk food in the menu. Opinions are controversial, with some believing bad food should be a way to bring inmates to justice.
Sure, junk food is quite tasty, although it has basically no health benefits. The general opinion, nowadays, is that junk food should be avoided as much as possible, partly because of obesity concerns and of the disorders associated with it. This is a pretty straightforward rule of thumb for many, but some had a surprising answer when it came to inmates and their diet.
According to the New York Daily News, New York City officials are working on a plan that would take junk food off jail menus. This means the inmates are going to be healthier but angrier given that they’ve got another thing to write on their wish list.
The plan is said to involve the ban of potato chips, M&Ms and even sodas. Their favorite purchases are instant noodles, accounting for a lot of salt and some 190 calories per package. They use the flavor packets that come with the instant noodles to season jail food.
Daily News writes that New York City’s 13,000 inmates spend about $13 million each year at the commissaries. Given that the plan will take off the shopping list their favorite purchases, jails are going to notice a reduction in earnings. The hope is that the cut in junk food is going to help reduce the medical costs for inmates. Over the past few years, these costs have increased by 11 percent, mostly because of the expensive treatments for inmates with mental disorders.
Spokeswoman for the mayor, Samantha Levine told New York Daily News: “As part of the city’s anti-obesity work, we are continuously looking to appropriate steps to improve the food environment in city agencies”.
However, at this point, the plan isn’t clear about replacing the junk food with healthy food. Maybe commissaries will carry fruits and vegetables from now on, instead of M&M’s, honey buns and salty chips.
