SMART SNACK K-12 CASE STUDY #3: HERSHEY’S ICE CREAM

November 2025

One of our readers made us aware of ice cream being sold every day in her child’s elementary school in the Houston suburbs. At this school . . .

Children can buy and consume one of many ice cream offerings at any time during the lunch period and the children can buy an unlimited amount of ice cream for themselves or their friends.

Q: What do you think a six year old eats first at lunch when there is ice cream on their lunch tray? What about a 14 year old?

HERE’S WHAT’S HAPPENING AT HER ELEMENTARY SCHOOL

Multiple types and flavors of ice cream are for sale from the start of the lunch period and throughout the lunch period. Although many children purchase ice cream at the beginning of the lunch period, five minutes before the end of lunch, there is an announcement to the children: Who wants ice cream? At our reader’s elementary school, there is apparently a “stampede of little children” when this announcement is made.

Parents are able to access information about items available for the kids’ lunches but not about the extra snacks and ice cream the children can also purchase. And parents are not informed about what their children eat or don’t eat each day.

It turns out one of the children tells her parents she is buying lunch with her money when she is in fact buying two ice cream sandwiches each day.

HERSHEY’S ICE CREAM IN U.S. SCHOOLS

Along with many of the largest food manufacturers in the U.S., Hershey’s Ice Cream has distribution directly targeted at K-12 (Kindergarten through 12th grade).

The ice cream sold in U.S. schools must meet “Smart Snacks” standards for school kids created by the USDA in partnership with the Alliance for a Healthier Generation which was founded by The Clinton Foundation and the American Heart Association.

Shown below, there are different criteria for Smart Snacks including parameters for the ingredient composition plus ones for calories, sodium, fats and sugars. Hershey’s Ice Cream products meet one of the Smart Snack standards by having some products with fruit as the first ingredient and some products with dairy as the first ingredient. (Source for Smart Snacks Standards: Alliance for a Healthier Generation 11/25)

Although Smart Snacks mission is well intended, the actual products which have been created to meet these standards are not-so-smart.

HERSHEY’S ICE CREAM SALES MATERIALS FOR SCHOOLS

Seen below, there are multiple messages being delivered to schools regarding the profit and ease of selling ice cream to school kids including “no cost equipment programs” and “complete programs that will attract students to buy, which will make your life easier and save you time!” There is an appeal to school staff to “Join your peers - over 15,000 schools and counting being served!” (Source: Hershey’s Ice Cream Web site 11/25)

HERSHEY’S ICE CREAM SMART SNACKS

We’ll take a look at the ingredients inside three Smart Snacks offerings from Hershey’s Ice Cream company who, “proudly boast the Nation’s largest variety of delicious Smart Snack approved frozen treats”. (Source: Hershey’s Ice Cream Web site 11/25)

STRAWBERRY SCOOTER BAR

Seen below, this “Smart Snack” 160 calories ice cream bar meets the Smart Snack standard of containing dairy as the first ingredient . . . but it also contains eight ingredients banned at Whole Foods including High Fructose Corn Syrup, four inclusions of Artificial Flavor, two inclusions of Artificial Color and Bleached Wheat Flour. (Sources: Hershey’s Ice Cream Web site 11/25; Amazon Whole Foods Web site 11/25) Although this could be an opportunity to give real fruit to a child, there are no real strawberries in this “strawberry” treat >> just the artificial flavors and artificial colors which mimic strawberries.

TROPI-KOOL STRAWBERRY FRUIT BAR

Shown below, this frozen fruit bar meets one of the Smart Snack standards by having strawberries as the first ingredient . . .

. . . but it also contains 21 grams of added sugars from Sugar and Corn Syrup Solids. That’s almost as many added sugars as in a four-finger Kit Kat Bar with 22 grams. (Source: Hersheyland Web site 11/25) Have you ever had Corn Syrup Solids in your home kitchen?

RASPBERRY SHERBET

This 140 calories product meets one of the Smart Snack standards because it contains dairy as the first ingredient . . . but High Fructose Corn Syrup is the second ingredient. Ingredients are always listed in descending order of amount, so the first four ingredients in this Raspberry Sherbet targeted at elementary school kids and older are:

1. Nonfat Milk

2. High Fructose Corn Syrup

3. Sugar

4. Corn Syrup

ADDED SUGARS

Seen on the following chart, the American Heart Association recommends children age 2-18 consume less than 25 grams of added sugars daily yet many of these ice cream offerings contain over 20 grams of added sugars including the Raspberry Sherbet with 23 grams of added sugars and the Tropi-Kool Strawberry Fruit Bar with 21 grams of added sugars. For perspective, a four “finger” Kit Kat Bar contains 22 grams of added sugars. (Source: Hersheyland Web site 11/25)

Q: How do you think a child feels and acts in school after eating almost a day’s recommended added sugar intake within five minutes?

ARTIFICIAL COLORS

There has been a growing awareness recently regarding the negative effects of artificial colors on children’s health and behavior. Shown below, there are numerous artificial colors in the Hershey’s Ice Cream offerings >> although many of the products do not contain any artificial colors, one of the products contains five artificial colors.

What are we communicating to to our next generation when we refer to these type of indulgent items as “Smart”?

Why are we creating unlimited, unmonitored access for our youngest consumers to ice cream at all, let alone ice creams with multiple commercial ingredients some of which are proven to be harmful?

Following are three slides on the scary increase in U.S. children with ADHD, obesity and diabetes:

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