A consumer watchdog organization issued a warning on Tuesday, April 9, about the school cafeteria versions of the popular snack kit Lunchables for children, claiming that they contain excessive salt.

Last year, Lunchables created two new snack kit variations for school lunch programs nationwide.

Report: Lunchables Have 25% to 50% of a Child's Daily Salt Allowance

Consumer Reports recently analyzed the nutritional profiles of two Lunchables kits given in schools. They discovered that the school kits had significantly greater salt levels than the store-bought Lunchables kits.

According to CNN, Consumer Reports found that store-bought lunch and snack kits contain 460 to 740 milligrams of salt per serving, about a quarter to half of a child's daily salt requirement.

The turkey and cheddar school Lunchables had 930 mg of salt compared to 740 mg in the store-bought version.

The group tested 12 store-bought Lunchables and similar ready-to-eat meal kits from Armour LunchMakers, Good & Gather, Greenfield Natural Meat Co., and Oscar Mayer and found lead, cadmium, or both, but none exceeded federal limits. Sodium levels were also high in other lunch kits tested.

The World Health Organization links cadmium to kidney, bone, and cancer. Heavy metals like lead and cadmium are naturally present in agricultural soil and cannot be avoided. The Centers for Disease Control in the United States states that no amount of lead is safe for children.

According to the report, all of the kits evaluated by Consumer Reports, except for Lunchables Extra Cheesy Pizza, included phthalates or phthalate replacement chemicals. Phthalates have been linked to childhood obesity, asthma, cardiovascular disease, cancer, and reproductive issues.

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Consumer Reports Urges USDA to Ban Lunchables From School Cafeterias

Consumer Reports has taken legal action by requesting that the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) remove the Lunchables food kits from school cafeterias, which is in charge of the federally subsidized school lunch program.

"Lunchables are not a healthy option for kids and shouldn't be allowed on the menu as part of the National School Lunch Program," said Brian Ronholm, food policy director at Consumer Reports.

Last year, Kraft Heinz's Lunchables were introduced to K-12 school lunchrooms nationwide under the National School Lunch Program (NSLP). To comply with federal regulations, Kraft Heinz had to re-formulate the components.

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