This breakfast was served more than once in the past week at a public school.  The first is a box of cereal labeled Tootie Fruities by Malt-O-Meal.  The ingredients are:  Corn, wheat and whole grain oat flour, sugar, salt, calcium carbonate, natural orange, cherry, lemon, lime, and other natural flavors, vitamin C (sodium ascorbate and ascorbic acid), yellow 6, niacin (niacinamide), vitamin A palmitate, reduced iron, zinc (zinc oxide), red 40, blue 1, vitamin B12, yellow 5, folate (folic acid), vitamin B6 (pyridoxine hydrochloride), vitamin B1 (thiamin hydrochloride), vitamin B2 (riboflavin), vitamin D.  This breakfast food is loaded with artificial colors.  When Yellow 5 and Yellow 6 are in England’s foods the following label is attached:  “May have an adverse effect on activity and attention in children.”  Food dyes are petroleum based chemicals.  They have been linked to hyperactivity in children.  Is this any way to start a day of learning?   Instead of using artificial colors, foods in Europe use real food colorings like radish, carrot, red cabbage, and lemon extracts.  Additionally, artificial blue, red, and green food colorings have been linked to cancer in lab rats.  After getting a dose of fancy artificial colors, the students ate corn that is most likely a genetically engineered variety loaded with glyphosate (Roundup Weed Killer).  The second item, syrup, was made by Americana with the following ingredients:  Corn syrup, high fructose corn syrup, water, caramel color, potassium sorbate as a preservative, citric acid, natural and artificial maple flavor.  How much real maple syrup was included?  I bet not much.  The packet was about a tablespoon of sugar most likely made from genetically engineered corn as well.  Where is the real food like toast, butter, and eggs?  No wonder students have difficulty learning!