Seattle Requires Vending Machines on City Property to be Half-Healthy

Posted By elissa on Mar 5, 2013 | 1 comment

I don’t hit vending machines for snacks very often, but I’ve done it on rare occasions – usually when I’m at some highway rest stop out in the middle of nowhere (and there’s a fair amount of “nowhere” in Eastern Washington), and need something to tide me over until I hit civilization again.

This happens maybe once or twice a year. When it does, I nearly always choose a Snickers or a PayDay bar – thanks to the peanuts, they’re usually the healthiest things in the machine.

To put it another way, they’re the best of the worst.

Thus, I wouldn’t mind seeing this become a statewide (if not nationwide) trend…

Seattle City Council to require carrot sticks, tuna alongside chips in vending machines

The Seattle City Council voted today to require healthier vending machines on city property. The proposal by Councilmember Richard Conlin also has the support of the Mayor Mike McGinn. Under the new rules, at least half of the food in city vending machines will have to be healthy.

Public Health-Seattle and King County gets to define what’s healthy enough to qualify. Their guidelines  list carrot sticks, low-fat yogurt, string cheese and packets of tuna as examples of what people will find in a half-healthy vending machine.

Even with my sporadic use of the machines, I’d be happier if I could choose a packet of tuna and/or some string cheese vs. a Snickers.