chandigarh as many as 53 schoolchildren in chandigarh like to gorge on chips burgers samosas noodles pasta and other junk food sold in their school canteens this happens to be the alarming finding of a survey conducted by association of chambers of commerce and industries assocham in 25 private and public school canteens in five major cities including chandigarh it reveals that kids prefer to snack on junk food which is heavy in fats salt and sugar and warns that if the trend continues the kids are set to develop lifestyle diseasesthe survey discloses that 53 of children in chandigarh spend an average rs 700 to 1000 every month on junk food in school canteens another alarming finding which should serve as a wakeup call to schools and parents 59 of the food served in canteens is junk food the survey rise in consumption pattern of junk food in the school was carried out on 5000 school children in five cities ahmedabad mumbai chandigarh kolkata and chennai placing chandigarh on third positionhalf of the kids surveyed insisted they eat eggs pulses and nuts only once a week students though confess of their weakness for junk food i am really fond of our school canteen food samosas chips and noodles are my favourite says a classix student of a citybased school aneesh garga mother of two schoolgoing children ranjana shastri says though i always try to pack traditional food for my kids they get bored with the same sort of stuff fearing that they would come back home with an empty stomach i sometimes allow them to buy chips and soft drinks from the school canteen a senior endocrinologist at a mohalibased private hospital dr k p singh says the liking of junk food over the traditional homemade food is not only restricted to kids alone but their elders as well causing a rise in obesity junk food takes people towards diabetes there is a need to psychoanalyse the kids and promoting health education among them to prevent junk food intakeprincipal of delhi public school reema diwan says we have stopped keeping junk food in our schools everyday we have been offering students minimeals in the form of rajmashrice karichawal and snacks made of brown bread soft drinks are also not allowed in the school canteen