`Stop Fast Food Sale In And Around Schools' Junk food could be banned in cafeterias in and around schools if Union minister Maneka Gandhi has her way . The minister has written to her Cabinet colleagues HRD minister Smriti Irani and health minister J P Nadda seeking a ban on junk food in school canteens and incorporating new food guidelines that define junk food and categorize it on its nutritious value. The move comes following a government panel recommendation on junk food or “HFSS“ that is foods high in fat, salt and sugar. Guidelines include ban on sale of HFSS foods in school canteens, private vendors and hawkers within 200 metres of the school during school hours (7am to 4pm), disallowing shops and restaurants from selling proprietary foods to children in school uniform and stocking nonstandardized proprietary foods in canteens according to their nutritional value. In her letter to Nadda, Gandhi said, “Over the last two decades, overnutrition and obesity have emerged as a public health problem among school-going children in the age group of 6 to 18 years. This is largely the result of lifestyle related factors in terms of reduction in physical activity and nonhealth food choices. The major contributor of the nonhealthy food choices in the younger generation is the easy availability of `junk food' which essentially is calorie dense high fat fast food.'' In her letter to Irani, Gandhi has urged that fast food ban be imposed in and around campuses, and the CMs of respective states assist in implementing the ban.