As the end of August rolled in, Troy High School started its 2023-2024 school year. Troy High School experienced the reduction of vending machines around the school including the cafeteria; the beloved vending machines that had a bright pink sticker saying “USE AT YOUR OWN RISK,” students’ favorite chips or jelly-filled fruit snacks, the Coca Cola vending machines with a variety of diet free or sugar free sodas.
Gayle Moran, Food Service Liaison for the Troy School District, shared her knowledge on the disappearance of the vending machines across the district.
“The district has two district-wide contracts for vending, one is with Coca Cola, and the snack vending is with Continental Vending. Both of which were renewed this school year,” Moran says.
These vending machines were a part of a district wide contract stating that “Continental Snack Vending Company maintains records of sales, and of the expiration dates of the products offered in the machines, and with some of our machines it was not feasible to continue to have those particular machines available any longer.”
Remo Roncone, Principal of Troy High School, explains that “They will not sell stuff when it’s given away for free, so they don’t want to have vending machines that aren’t being used that can be put in other places where they are gonna be used.”
Roncone talks about Coca-Cola’s part of the contract saying that “I think that more the drive towards Coca-Cola because it wouldn’t be logical from a business standpoint.”
When asked about the requirements for the vending machines Moran responds, “The products that are offered in either the beverage or snack vending machines must meet the United States Department of Agriculture nutritional requirements. One of the requirements states that they should not be on during the lunch period that would compete with the National School Lunch Program that is being offered.
The Troy School District Website about the Wellness Policy which states that “The Policy includes mention of proper nutrition and nutrition education, physical education and the importance of regular physical activity. The purpose of this Regulation is to implement the Wellness Policy. The report that is going to be sent to the superintendent states the “Listing of all a la carte, vending, and competitive foods sold by school food service.” All the food that is in the vending machines are contracted by Chartwells.
