El Mercado Negro

Veggie chips for 27 pesos or Cheetos for 10?

The boom of the contraband food industry that roams the halls of ASFM was three years ago, when a middle schooler discovered the potential of selling chile products during lunch. The high number of sales attracted others to sell a variety of goods not offered by the cafeteria. The illegitimate business has grown to the extent that approximately one out of every three current students has sold a product at ASFM.

One 11th-grader stated that she spends an average of 200 pesos in the cafeteria every two to three days. On the other hand, she estimated that her expenses on “black market” products roam the figures of 50 pesos weekly. “I realized that the cafeteria only offers me a few options at ridiculously high prices, and I can buy much more ‘illegally’ for a lower cost, ” she added.

Recent data gathered this March surveying more than a hundred high schoolers showed that nearly 92 percent have bought ‘illicit’ products.

Ms. Salinas, AP Economics and Entrepreneurship teacher, concluded that students are buying outside of the cafeteria because it is not meeting their needs. “If there is demand for a product somehow, and people are finding another way to meet that demand, then that’s why kids are having success in that area”, she said. “Markets arise over the demand for a product, not the supply of a product. I think in general, competition is always a good thing and that when we encourage competitive markets, then that is a helpful outcome for everybody all the way around.”

According to Maria Valdez, responsible for food and nutrition at ASFM, there is no rule in Blue Leaf’s contract that prohibits third-party sellers in ASFM. Ms. Lamadrid added to this by explaining that this ban was implemented by ex-superintendent Dr. Jeffrey Keller and has since been maintained. She also confirmed that students are not allowed to sell their own products due to SEP health regulations, whose purpose is to decrease obesity in Mexico’s youth.

However, the assistant principal expressed that Admin is working on finding a way to give students an opportunity to sell their products whilst meeting the SEP requirements. “The administration is looking into it to probably make it happen next year.”