KEY POINTS:
The Government is set to announce changes to force schools to sell only healthy food on their premises.
The changes to school regulations, the National Administration Guidelines, would be announced today, Radio New Zealand reported.
Food and drink with high fat, sugar and salt content would not be allowed.
Papatoetoe High School principal Peter Gall, president of the Secondary Principals' Association, said the changes were harsh.
"They are saying that this is an incredibly serious situation that needs to be addressed and can only be addressed by regulation and so schools are regulated now on what foods that they can or cannot sell."
He said schools would see the mandatory approach as an encroachment on freedoms but children would still buy the products elsewhere.
"Schools will be concerned this is another burden placed on them which if anything might detract from teaching and learning."
Schools would also find definitions of what is healthy or not difficult to determine.
In May the Green Party revealed that most schools continued selling pies, sausage rolls, hot dogs and sugary snacks despite guidelines aimed at trying to prevent obesity.
The party's survey covered 50 schools and found 84 per cent were still selling sweet and fatty food.
Fewer were offering rolls and sandwiches than in last year's survey.
Last year it was announced that from 2009, sugary soft drinks would no longer be sold in secondary schools following an agreement between the Government, Coca Cola and the distributor of Pepsi.
Parliament is holding an inquiry into New Zealand's obesity problem which is increasing and expected to place a huge strain on health services.
- NZPA
