Flamin’ Hot Cheetos Banned In Schools As ‘Highly Addictive’

Flamin’ Hot Cheetos are being outlawed in some schools because they’re “highly addictive.”

Kids these days aren't just munching down on good-old potato chips anymore; they’ve switched to Flamin’ Hot Cheetos, a snack that is akin to ingesting fiery nuggets.

Because children and teens have taken such a strong liking to the high-caloric snack, nutritionists and other health professionals are concerned about the unhealthy habit.

Just one bag of Flamin’ Hot Cheetos is packed with high amounts of fat and salt-- ”26 grams of fat and a quarter of the amount of salt that’s recommended for the entire day,” according to ABC News.

A little junk food here or there isn’t bad, but these airy puffs have no nutritional value and some are reporting that youngsters are beginning to become addicted to the cheesy, salty snack.

Schools across the country are starting to recognize the potential addictive weaknesses youths may have for the snack, and are beginning to take Flamin’ Hot Cheetos off their menus, ABC News wrote.

A school in Illinois sold 150,000 bags a year of the snack, but will no longer carry the product.

“If children were to bring in snacks that are high in fat, high in calories, that’s their choice,” Rockford School District Interim Superintendent Robert Willis told ABC News.“We’re not going to be providing those kinds of foods.”

A California school will not even allow for parents to pack the snack for their children.

“We don’t allow candy, and we don’t allow Hot Cheetos,” Rita Exposito, principal of Jackson Elementary School in Pasadena, told the Chicago Tribune. “We don’t encourage other chips, but if we see Hot Cheetos, we confiscate them — sometimes after the child has already eaten most of them. It’s mostly about the lack of nutrition.”

Flamin’ Hot Fritos were first made in the 1990s, according to the Chicago Tribune, “to target urban convenience stores.”

A convenience store owner in Chicago, Ali Bawazir, told the Tribune that it was one of his best-selling products.

“It’s my No. 1 seller,” the owner of Touchdown Food Mart in Chicago told the Chicago Tribune. “Kids get ‘em for breakfast too. They’re crazy about them.”