This just in from the Food Police Chronicles ….
A state employee required a preschooler at West Hoke Elementary in Raeford, North Carolina on January 30, 2012 to eat chicken nuggets during lunch because her lunch brought from home was not nutritious enough.
The child’s lunch contained a turkey and cheese sandwich, a banana, potato chips, and apple juice.
The state agent decided that the girl’s lunch did not meet USDA guidelines and required that the child be given a “healthier” alternative. Â Furthermore, the state agent apparently inspected all the children’s lunches that day in the four year old classroom. Â No word if other children were asked to eat chicken nuggets as well.
USDA guidelines mandate that all children’s lunches contain one serving of meat, one serving of milk, one serving of grain, and two servings of fruit or vegetables even if the lunch comes from home. Â The Division of Child Development and Early Education at the Department of Health and Human Services requires child care providers to supplement children’s lunches with whatever compulsory items are missing.
The mother of the child who ate the three chicken nuggets, who prefers anonymity fearing retaliation, said she received a note from the school warning her that her child’s lunch was not nutritious enough and that noncompliance in the future could result in fees from the school cafeteria.
Since when are industrially processed chicken nuggets (aka “pink goo”) fried in genetically modified, rancid vegetable oils and nuked in a microwave healthier than a turkey and cheese sandwich and a banana brought from home?
School cafeterias don’t even qualify as real kitchens in most cases as cafeteria workers only have access to giant microwaves that quickly heat up the overly processed, factory fat laden, genetically modifed, agricultural dumping ground food they serve.
Michael Pollan, author of The Omnivore’s Dilemma, says that bureaucratic rules require that schools buy food only from the cheapest bidder.
The sad truth is that only the cheapest, most nutritionless, most highly processed garbage food makes the cut for the school lunch program.
Many parents are choosing to pack their children’s lunches until better food is served at school, but apparently these efforts are being thwarted by the Food Police who are determining that homepacked meals are not up to snuff.
This story is yet another outrageous overstep by an overly aggressive, nanny style government increasingly insistent on raising our children according to its own standards while ignoring our own.
Only a lawsuit is going to stop this sort of thing from progressing and getting worse in the future. Hopefully, this mother can gather her courage and file a legal complaint immediately to force these overzealous government workers back in their bureaucratic box.
Sarah, The Healthy Home Economist
Below is the guideline refenced in the article about the school lunch being examined and confiscated. Nowhere in the regulation does it state that any food a child brings will be taken away. It states that food brought from home will be supplemented to meet the state regs. To me, the state official was way out of line and this is the situation that should be addressed immediately. What might have happened if this child would have had an adverse reaction to the school food. Potentially, the action of this state official could have been deadly.
Perhaps the greater issue is, that in today’s society, most people fail to nourish themselves, much less their children and one unfortunate result is this over-regulation of the most common sense details – or what used to be common sense details – that children should be fed well and that good nutrition is paramount to the health and well being of every living thing.
My overall sense is that there is a growing awareness of the massive ‘Industrial Food Complex’ and the problems that ensue, in great part, due to websites like this one and the many passionate folks out there devoted to bringing an end to the ‘nutritional wasteland’.
My supposition is that the ‘Food Police’ are going to be out of a job in the near future.
10A NCAC 09 .0901 GENERAL NUTRITION REQUIREMENTS
(a) Meals and snacks served to children in a child care center shall comply with the Meal Patterns for Children in Child Care Programs from the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) which are based on the recommended nutrient intake judged by the National Research Council to be adequate for maintaining good nutrition. The types of food, number and size of servings shall be appropriate for the ages and developmental levels of the children in care. The Meal Patterns for Children in Child Care Programs are incorporated by reference and include subsequent amendments. A copy of the Meal Patterns for Children in Child Care Programs is available free of charge from the Division at the address in Rule .0102(1) of this Chapter.
(b) Menus for nutritious meals and snacks shall be planned at least one week in advance. At least one dated copy of the current week’s menu shall be posted where it can be seen easily by parents and food preparation staff when food is prepared or provided by the center, except in centers with a licensed capacity of 3 to 12 children located in a residence. A variety of food shall be included in meals and snacks. Any substitution shall be of comparable food value and shall be recorded on the menu.
(c) When children bring their own food for meals or snacks to the center, if the food does not meet the nutritional requirements specified in Paragraph (a) of this Rule, the center must provide additional food necessary to meet those requirements.
(d) Drinking water must be freely available to children of all ages. Drinking fountains or individual drinking utensils shall be provided. When a private water supply is used, it must be tested by and meet the requirements of the Commission for Public Health.
(e) Children’s special diets or food allergies shall be posted in the food preparation area and in the child’s eating area.
(f) The food required by special diets may be provided by the center or may be brought to the center by the parents. If the diet is prescribed by a health care professional, a statement signed by the health care professional shall be on file at the center and written instructions shall be provided by the child’s parent,
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health care professional, or a licensed dietician/nutritionist. If the diet is not prescribed by a health care professional, written instructions shall be provided by the child’s parent and shall be on file at the center.
(g) Food and beverages with little or no nutritional value served as a snack, such as sweets, fruit drinks, soft drinks, etc., shall be available only for special occasions.
(h) Accommodations for breastfeeding mothers shall be provided that include seating and an electrical outlet in a place other than a bathroom that is shielded from view by staff and the public which may be used by mothers while they are breastfeeding or expressing milk.
History Note: Authority G.S. 110-85; 110-91(2); 143B-168.3;
Eff. January 1, 1986;
Amended Eff. July 1, 2010; July 1, 1998; October 1, 1991; November 1, 1989
Wondering if the cafe staff had to show the govt overseers that a minimum number of students were eating the cafeteria food. They might lose funding if too few partake.
I am a former public and private school teacher.
This is a blatant attempt to undermine the parents’ authority and credibility. In many public schools it is actually a for-profit vendor that supplies and manages the cafeteria staff, orders the food from the govt-approved (cheapest) vendors, etc. Last school where I worked, inner-city middle school – the food was horrible – a lot was wasted. They PAID kids to come and eat the breakfast! (Well it was an incentive to win a gift card for showing up for the free sugary/fatty breakfast but still). Most of the kids qualified for free or reduced price lunch – and yet these “poor” kids always had money for candy, soda, and ice cream and the latest phone and electronic game in their backpacks! One teen begged me for the part of my homemade salad because she never gets those kinds of fresh veggies at home or at school. She was overweight and “developing” and you could see she intuitively CRAVED the nutrients her body really needed! Arggh this makes me so angry.
Oh yea, at the end of the year, they started running out of food – they couldn’t order more and had to make do with what they had on hand. Lots of mushy canned vegetables, cheap meats smothered in salty gravy. Teachers who ate there daily out of convenience tended to gain weight. Bleahhhhhhh.
Ron Paul 2012, that’s all I can say.
It’s called Subway folks and I take my child lunch everyday to school knowing its nutritious and I wont back down from feeding my child healthy! If they dont like it she can be homeschooled rather than to see her starve or eat carcinegenicly tainted food.
Have you read the ingredients in Subway’s bread and lunch meats? I wouldn’t exactly call it “nutritious” and “healthy” as an everyday lunch, or at all actually! We do eat Subway every once in a great while, but I definitely don’t consider it good for us
This story seems really weird and like there must be something out of context. When people can use government issued “food stamps” to purchase any crap food/nonfood they wish without restriction I don’t understand why they’re invading carefully chosen lunches. While they’re approving toxic ingredients for store shelves they’re censoring what parents end up choosing? Something is amiss! Start at the source, that would make a lot more sense!
I ate a school lunch most of my eductaional life. I lived on chips, salad cream and cookies. All washed down with sugary drinks.
I can’t remember a day I didn’t argue with my parents. As a teenager I became more and more stressed and ‘depressed’.
Now I’ve found Real Food, I realise that all my ‘mood’ issues were directly linked to my school lunch meals and my poor diet at home.
I am determined to provide good lunch boxes for my kids. Or if I feel able, to home school.
Natasha
You are so right and I grew up with that and developed Crohn’s . Look at the GAPS program and it’s success. All of my sons behavior issues cleared up when I changed his diet. I pack him lunch every day now and will thru high school. I dare someone to arrest me – I’d call the local TV stations !
Home-schooling is not an option for all. I am a single parent and I’ve always packed my kid’s lunch. Now that he’s in high-school, he makes the right choice may be 70% of the time, but still wants the occasional pizza at the cafeteria.
I come from a country where school lunches are real lunches, cooked on site, with fresh local produce. When I was growing up, a lot of my friends chose to eat lunch at school vs. home, because their parents were bad cooks, and school food were so good!
It is possible to serve real food to our kids, even kids on free-lunch. But it is high time to look at what priorities this country has: take a look at the defense budget compared to the education budget. Only a complete revamping of this society will bring a change in mentalities. Needless to say, it won’t happen unless a nuclear bomb wipes out most of us! In the meantime, I’ll keep packing my kid’s lunches.
Mali, well stated. I just interviewed a director about a documentary called Lunchline which talks about the lunch program. After overhead expenses are paid, only a $1 is spent on the lunch meal. On top of which the USDA mandates a certain amount of calories. The worse thing is the free meal is the only meal some of these kids get all day. I wanted to cry.
I will link up the article and interview to Sarah’s Monday link love. This interview just pulled at my heart why we aren’t spending more money on free lunches with fresh food than other government programs. These kids are our future. Invest now instead of later. Thank you Sarah for providing the forum and the Monday link love.
Thats Scary
I have worked in schools and both my parents and MIL work for public schools and we all agree there is no way my kids will ever eat a school lunch!
I would be furious if this happened to one of my kids and in this scenario it could be likely since we are mostly vegetarian – so there would/will be no meat in my kids’ lunch boxes!