Pueblo County proposing program to ban soft drinks in kids meals within city limits
PUEBLO, Colo. (KRDO) – Pueblo County health officials are proposing a program for the city of Pueblo to adopt that would require restaurants to only allow milk, water or another healthy alternative for children's meals instead of soda or sugary drinks in an effort to curb childhood health issues in the state.
Pueblo County Public Health presented to Pueblo City Council on Monday evening during their work session, with the intent of implementing a program called "Healthy Drinks in Kids Meals" – a state-funded initiative that has already been passed in several other cities and counties, such as Denver (in 2024) and Golden (in 2022).
"That would just mean that the kids meal would include water, unsweetened milk or a milk alternative in the bundled meal." explained Gabby Singleton, Health Promotion Specialist with Pueblo County Public Health.
It would impact 34 local restaurants and 62 chains within Pueblo, which is just under one-third of the total restaurants in the area, Singelton says, since not all have specific children's meals. The idea is to make a dent in the health issues that are being found in kids ages 1 to 14 years old.
"We were able to measure 70.3% of our children in Pueblo consume at least one sugary beverage per day." said Singleton, who added that people in Pueblo have higher rates of chronic illnesses.
If city council approved of the program, it would make them the first municipality in Southern Colorado with it.
"[Those options would act] as a way to make the healthy choice, the easy choice, and to hopefully promote healthy behavior change at a young, young age in life." explained Singleton.
State data shows that just over 25% of children ages 1-14 are considered overweight or obese.
Denver County Public Health, who passed the program in March of 2024, tells KRDO13 that their program will begin being enforced starting July 1, 2025.
"Limiting consumption of sugary drinks in our communities aligns with several of the City’s plans to address nutrition and healthy food access and meets the goals of preventing short and longer- term health consequences for Denver’s children." explained Jennifer Moreland, Director of Community Health Promotion for the Public Health Institute at Denver Health in an email.
Meanwhile locally in Pueblo, the owner of B&C Tacos says they already offer water for kids, but let parents have the final say in what their kids consume.
"We give them a choice, and whatever they want is what they want." said Bruce Deveraux, who added that he thinks the program is a great idea, but casted doubt on the idea of chains cooperating.
Singleton said that McDonalds and Dairy Queen both prioritize a health beverage with their kids meals, and hopes that others will comply with the ordinance, should it pass.
The owner of Southwest Grill in Pueblo tells KRDO13 they think the program has the right intentions to help the youth, and said he'd change his menu without hesitation.
The county says it will use the state funds to help pay for re-printing and fixing menus for local restaurants, and have been doing months of outreach to educate and explain the idea to local businesses.
As for implementation of the program and how they would enforce the rule, the county says they're still evaluating multiple plans, but cited Denver's Complaint-based reporting system as one they may consider.
The Pueblo city council heard the presentation by public health officials on Monday evening during its work session. It's not clear when a final vote would be held on the matter.
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