Lunchables removed from national school lunch program [Video]

Lunchables will no longer be on the menu at schools around the United States.Kraft Heinz, the company that produces Lunchables, announced Tuesday that it will remove the meal kits from the National School Lunch Program.The company pulled the product because demand did not reach its targets, but it plans to revisit the idea in the future, according to an emailed statement from Kraft Heinz.The decision comes after Consumer Reports tested the school versions of the grocery store snacks and found high levels of sodium, lead and cadmium.Were pleased that Heinz Kraft has pulled Lunchables from the school lunch program, Brian Ronholm, director of food policy at Consumer Reports, said in a statement. The USDA should maintain stricter eligibility standards for the school lunch programs so that the millions of kids that depend on it get the healthier options they deserve.The National School Lunch Program a federally assisted program that provides low-cost and free nutritionally balanced lunches to students serves nearly 30 million kids, according to the Department of Agricultures Food and Nutrition Service.Sodium levels in the school lunchesTwo types of Lunchables were brought into the school lunch program last year: Turkey & Cheddar Cracker Stackers and Extra Cheesy Pizza.Consumer Reports found that the kits, which were created specifically for the school lunch program, contained even higher levels of sodium than those available in the grocery store.Sodium levels in the store-bought lunch and snack kits it tested ranged from 460 to 740 milligrams per serving, or nearly a quarter to half of a childs daily recommended limit for sodium, Consumer Reports said.The turkey and cheddar school versions of Lunchables contained 930 milligrams of sodium, compared to 740 milligrams in the store-bought version.Last year, US Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack proposed changes to school food guidelines to gradually reduce sodium and added sugar levels. Too much sodium consumption can raise blood pressure and increase the risk of heart attack and stroke, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.The school version of Lunchables did contain higher levels of protein and whole grains than the grocery store counterparts, however, Kraft Heinz previously has said.Last year, we brought two NSLP compliant Lunchables options to schools that had increased protein, the company said in a statement Tuesday. While many school administrators were excited to have these options, the demand did not meet our targets. This happens occasionally across our broad portfolio, especially as we explore new sales channels. Lunchables products are not available in schools this year and we hope to revisit at a future date. The NSLP compliant Lunchables sales last school year were far less than 1% of overall Lunchables sales, so business impact is negligible.Lead and cadmiumAlongside Lunchables, Consumer Reports tested other store-bought meal kits, including those from Armour LunchMakers, Good & Gather, Greenfield Natural Meat Co. and Oscar Mayer.And in addition to higher levels of sodium than other lunch kits, Consumer Reports also found lead, cadmium or both in all of the kits, although none of the kits exceeded any federal limit.Cadmium has been linked to kidney and bone disease and cancer, according to the World Health Organization. As natural elements, heavy metals such as lead and cadmium are in the soil in which crops are grown and thus cant be avoided. Some crop fields and regions, however, contain more toxic levels than others, partly due to the overuse of metal-containing pesticides and ongoing industrial pollution.There is no safe level of lead for children, however, according to the CDC.Lead stays in the body and builds up over time, a process called bioaccumulation. Thats why even extremely low levels of ongoing exposure can become toxic. Infants are particularly vulnerable because a smaller dose of lead can have a larger health effect on them compared with other children and adults.CNNs Sandee LaMotte and Parija Kavilanz contributed to this report.

If approved, the project would seek to revitalize a plot off of the intersection of Market and Fulton. But not everyone thinks the current proposal is a good idea.

IN GREENSBORO, THE MEN AND WOMEN WHO SERVED OUR COUNTRY WILL BE HONORED. A LITTLE BIT EARLY. TOMORROW IS THE ANNUAL VETERANS DAY PARADE, AND THIS YEARS GRAND MARSHAL IS A 103 YEAR OLD ARMY VETERAN. WXII 12 CHRIS PETERSEN MET UP WITH THOMAS FOSSETT AND HIS WIFE TODAY, WHO SHARED A STORY OF SACRIFICE AND SERVICE. THOMAS FOSSETT SPENT HIS LIFE SERVING HIS COUNTRY AND HIS COMMUNITY, AND NOW GREENSBORO IS HONORING HIM. HE WAS A HANDSOME GENTLEMAN. THOMAS FOSSETT JOINED THE ARMY ON MARCH 8TH, 1943, AT THE AGE OF 21. THREE BRONZE SERVICE STARS. FOSSETT SERVED IN THE ARMY BEFORE HE MET HIS WIFE OF 54 YEARS, ELIZABETH. SHE SAYS SHE HAD NO IDEA HE WAS IN WORLD WAR TWO UNTIL YEARS AFTER THEY HAD MARRIED. AT 103 YEARS OLD. ITS HARD FOR THOMAS TO SHARE HIS STORY OF SERVICE. I WASNT AWARE THAT HE HAD BEEN IN THE SERVICE AND SO IT WAS SEVERAL YEARS BEFORE I REALIZED I WAS JUST GOING THROUGH PAPERWORK. YOU KNOW, IN MY FILE. AND I LOOKED, I SAID, OH MY GOD, HE WAS IN THE SERVICE. ELIZABETH DISCOVERED THAT THOMAS WAS STATIONED IN ITALY AND SOUTHERN FRANCE FROM 1943 TO 1945. LOADING AND UNLOADING SHIPS. AFTER SHE FOUND HIS PAPERWORK, IT TOOK SEVERAL MONTHS BEFORE SHE RECEIVED HIS MEDALS. AFTER THE WAR, FOSSETT SPENT 40 YEARS WORKING FOR THE POST OFFICE. BUT IN GREENSBORO, HES FAMOUS FOR SERVING THE STUDENTS OF PECK ELEMENTARY SCHOOL. FOSSETT WAS A CROSSING GUARD THERE FOR 36 YEARS, RETIRING THIS PAST JUNE, AND HE ALWAYS ASKED, WHO AM I GOING TO WORK? NO. YOURE FINISHED. YOU ARE FINISHED. BUT HE THOROUGHLY ENJOYED. FOSSETT FLEW TO WASHINGTON, D.C. WITH THE TRIAD HONOR FLIGHT IN OCTOBER. HE AND OTHER VETERANS TOURED THE WORLD WAR TWO MEMORIAL AND VISITED THE TOMB OF THE UNKNOWN SOLDIER. ELIZABETH HAS THIS MESSAGE FOR HER HUSBAND AND ALL VETERANS. ITS JUST AN HONOR TO BASICALLY HAVE A LIVE WITH A PERSON THAT HAS SERVED OUR COUNTRY, YOU KNOW? AND IF IT WASNT FOR THEM, YOU KNOW, WE WOULDNT HAVE THE FREEDOM THAT WE HAVE NOW. THE PARADE STARTS AT NOON AND RUNS THROUGH DOWNTOWN GREENSBORO. ITS AN OPPORTUNITY FOR US TO HONOR THOSE WHO SACRIFICED SO MUCH FOR OUR COUNTRY AND OUR COMMUNITY. AT THE CAROLIN

If your artistic style is more stick-figure than Picasso, Microsoft has a remedy to boost your creativity: adding artificial intelligence to its Paint application.The company is rolling out new AI tools for Paint as part of a Windows 11 update.Microsoft like its Big Tech competitors is introducing AI to its consumer products, from virtual chatbot assistants to notetaking and editing tools.But MS Paint? It's one of the simplest applications Microsoft produces and has changed little since it was introduced in 1985. It's as rudimentary as it gets.But that could be the point: A promise of AI is to help people save time on tasks. If you need something that looks sharp but don't have the ability to do it yourself, using the most basic app to create something beautiful is well, kind of what AI is made for.And one of the most enduring elements of the AI boom has been the intrigue of AI-generated artwork.Since the initial launch of OpenAI's Dall-E image creation tool in 2021, the concept of text-to-image artwork where a user types their idea, and AI produces a corresponding image has not just captivated people, it's become a focus of some Big Tech products.The latest Windows update will give Paint new features like generative fill, a tool that will enable users to add AI-generated graphics to their artwork by typing what they want to see, Dave Grochocki, a product manager at Microsoft, said in a blog post Wednesday. Users will be able to create and edit AI images on top of their own pre-existing artwork.The update will first be available to people registered in the Windows Insider program, where users can preview new company offerings. To use generative fill, users must also have computers that are equipped with Microsoft Copilot+, the company's newest iteration of AI software.Microsoft did not immediately respond to CNN's request for additional comment.The update will also give more users in Europe access to Image Creator, an AI-image generator introduced to Paint in 2023 and powered by Dall-E, due to Microsoft's partnership with OpenAI.Paint is among the latest staple tech apps to incorporate AI, tech that could change so much about art, but so far has produced uses of varying effects including a plethora of odd, AI-spam on social media.On Meta's recent quarterly earnings call, for example, CEO Mark Zuckerberg said he was aware of how much AI content was on Facebook and Instagram, and he plans to keep feeding users even more AI-generated images across their feeds."I think we're going to add a whole new category of content, which is AI generated or AI summarized content or kind of existing content pulled together by AI in some way," Zuckerberg said. "And I think that that's going to be just very exciting for the for Facebook and Instagram and maybe Threads or other kind of Feed experiences over time."Paint has existed since Microsoft first launched its Windows brand of operating systems in 1985. The artistic application has gone through variations across the decades but has ultimately endured as a core part of Microsoft's offerings not to mention a cultural aesthetic of the early digital era and internet boom.The revamping of Paint is another example of Microsoft aiming to keep an edge in the AI race. In October, Microsoft introduced a sweeping update to its Copilot virtual assistant in an effort to make it more useful and user-friendly, CEO of Microsoft AI Mustafa Suleyman previously told CNN.Microsoft users will also see AI features in Notepad, Microsoft's writing platform, allowing them to use the new technology to help rewrite or edit sentences. For example, users can type a sentence, and then prompt the AI tool to rewrite the sentence or modify its tone or length.In October, Apple unveiled its first set of AI features for the iPhone as part of its iOS 18.1 software update. Apple's "Writing Tools," an editing tool, is similar to Microsoft's AI features in Notepad.Another new feature in MS Paint is generative erase, which is an AI tool that will let users remove unwanted objects from their image without distorting the background. The generative erase feature is available to all Microsoft PCs with Windows 11.