The Athens City School District is going green this spring with software that helps replace unhealthy snacks with healthy foods in its cafeterias.

The Snackwise software works by assigning snacks a color based on their nutrition facts label: green for healthy snacks, yellow for snacks that should be eaten occasionally and red for snacks to avoid, said Jan Ritter, research dietitian for Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Columbus.

The Nationwide Children’s Hospital developed Snackwise in 2005 because schools needed healthy food standards, Ritter said.

“Kids are at school all day so most of their calories and nutrients come from foods in the cafeteria, which aren’t always healthy or rich in nutrients,” she said.

Even if foods are low in fat, such as Fig Newton bars, they might still be considered a yellow or red label food because they are low in vitamins and nutrients, she added.

The actual software costs $25, but the online version is free and available to anyone.

“We wanted to make the software affordable for school districts to use as an education tool in the classroom and develop snack lists,” she said.

The Athens City School District purchased Snackwise with the help of grants from the Osteopathic-Heritage Foundation of Nelsonville, a nonprofit foundation that works to improve community health.

The Athens City Schools Superintendent ordered all red foods removed from the cafeterias once Athens High School students helped used Snackwise to identify the less healthy foods, said Jamie Linscott, grant coordinator for the wellness program at Athens schools.

Students from the high school’s Foods and Fitness class are using Snackwise to select which snacks will be added to the cafeteria.

“A lot of kids enjoy junk food, but healthy food will be more beneficial in the long run,” junior Jay Jenkins said.

The class passed out a survey of healthy snacks and the most popular choices will be added to the cafeteria next year, Jenkins said.

For now, the school serves granola bars and juice instead of candy bars and pop, junior Nicole Gernano said.

Other red foods include Skittles and Lay’s Cheddar Sour Cream chips, according to the Snackwise Web site. Yellow foods are Rice Krispie Treats and Reduced Fat Cooler Ranch Doritos.