COLUMBIA, Mo. – Even tiny Jolly Rancher candies are too much for Michelle Obama’s “healthy” school snack rules.

Benton Elementary School principal Troy Hogg’s glass jar of the candies – given to students who help with the morning announcements – is the latest casualty of the first lady’s campaign to rid schools of sweet and salty foods.

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But according to The Missourian, the principal is “embracing” the changes.

“We don’t want to overload our kids with sugar,” he says.

CalorieKing.com reports a single Jolly Rancher weighs two-tenths of one ounce and contains 23 calories. The candy contains no fat or cholesterol and each one has 3mg of sodium.

Hogg sent an email to parents at the beginning of the school year explaining “the importance of healthy classroom snacks.”

In the school’s rules, which came about after the federal regulations were handed down, adults are “encouraged” to consider fruits or vegetables in step with the principal’s recent decision to stop giving candy and snacks as “incentives.”

“I’ve also asked my teachers that we don’t use candy for treats anymore,” Hogg says. “They’re going to pick up those habits from us.”

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The principal believes it’s the school’s responsibility to instill “healthy” eating habits in children, not one for parents.

“If I say to a parent, ‘Please don’t bring that into school,’ then have I crossed the line in some way?” he says. “No, because I’m responsible for the kids that are in my building. The teachers are responsible for the kids that are in our building.”

Benton Elementary isn’t alone.

Pennsylvania’s Old Forge school district banned sweet treats from Christmas celebrations and birthday parties.

“The days of cupcakes on the bus, coming through the door, are over,” Old Forge Superintendent John Rushefski tells the Times-Tribune.

According to the paper, “many will eat carrots instead of candy canes” during the festivities.

Also banned are cookies and glazed doughnuts.

Now, students can choose from “water, fruit juice or frozen fruit juice to drink and whole wheat bars, whole wheat cheese crackers, apples and/or carrots,” the news site reports.

Earlier this year, Vermont banned brownies from being sold during school fundraisers.

“These changes are really supporting the types of diets that we as a country should be following to have a healthy diet and lifestyle,” Laurie Colgan, child nutrition program director at the Agency of Education, says.

“If you have a food fundraiser and the foods meet the guidelines, then you can have that fundraiser. …Schools have fundraisers that are selling things like grapefruits and oranges from Florida. They’re selling flower bulbs, cards and wrapping paper. There are a lot of non-food fundraisers schools are using.”