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
What really concerned me is that the mother fears retaliation. Even if I didn’t have food allergies to deal with, it would be the school, not me fearing retaliation. I’d do everything in my power to put the fear of God in them ever messing with my child’s food again. No pulling punches or holding tongues. And you can forget EVER paying that fee for the forced lunch. I already have to sit in on all parties and bring substitute food that doesn’t have either horrible or allergic ingredients in it. People keep talking food revolution and articles like this are what we see. I support our local farms that are being bullied by the FDA right now for over a year. I should go make another donation to them right now! Class action lawsuit sounds really good for things like this where a united front is the best defense.
This is an amazing story. And while I’m sure it’s not typical, I’m also sure that it’s not isolated and that it will become more common unless people express their outrage. I’m not a big Rush Limbaugh fan, but I’m happy that he has chosen to expose this story.
I fail to see how sending a lunch box full of processed foods to school with a child is better than the processed foods provided by the state. If healthy choices are provided in the home, the child will choose to take healthy food to school. In our family the children have a choice in their education and foods and food shopping. In the 2 years that my two oldest decided to try school their principal, teachers and peers were very curious about their lunches which was mostly organic, raw fed, home cooked. Parents have a responsibility to provide good nutrition at home. They will not ask for Pringle chips or processed meats unless that is what they learn at home. We can not expect processed foods to heal our children. We parents must take responsibility. It is not always about choice. I can choose to give my kids precessed dairy, instead I drive 1 hour to meet a grass fed dairy farmer who drives 2 hours to deliver raw milk, cheese, yogurt, kefir, raw honey and such. We are presently exploring a raw vegan diet but the children are also allowed to chose dairy or meat or cooked. The process has been very interesting and brought about additional discussion during our meals, meal prep and shopping. Eating out brings about interesting choices as well.We often discuss how we feel after meals, snacks, and after eating out. We’ve just returned from a week at Disney and a week at the beach which gave us daily challenges and choices. I found that it was possible to eat raw vegan without leaving Disney for 7 days! 🙂 A few years ago, when we decided to do away with all processed foods in our cupboards we made the children a part of the process and had fun with it. My then 4 yo learned to read labels because she was sensitive to colors and MSG. They weaned themselves off of a few unhealthy favorites and no longer ask for such. They are now 20, 14, 7 and 3 and have not had a sniffle for over a year. We take no meds, no vax, and have no illnesses. We still have room for improvement in our diets and learn from our peers every day. So, I’m not telling anyone in this thread what to do or that our way is better for anyone other than ourselves. I’m just suggesting that we parents should take responsibility for our family’s health, diet, education. The state does not have us in their best interest. Peace! :0)
Wow… so far all they’ve done at my son’s school is make sure he takes a fruit and veggie with his lunch (of course he doesn’t eat his veggie anyway but he has to take it). He eats lunch at school once a week and I pack it the other 4 days…..
You better believe if this happened at my son’s school, I would be at the principal’s office and the next PTA meeting. Unbelievable…
@ Magda: Your son’s school is already doing it. If they are telling you that you MUST send a fruit and a veggie (and they check his lunchbox to make sure!) – – – yeah, they’re already doing it to you.
You should have made arrangements to be at the PTA meetings BEFORE they started searching through lunchboxes. When my kids were in school (from elementary on up) we didn’t have THESE kinds of rules and regulations, but there were still plenty of things to fight against. The people working in the school offices used to cringe when they saw me coming. Heh heh! I’m sure they were all very thankful that I didn’t have the time to be running for the school board positions or even the PTA stuff. PTA today isn’t the same as it used to be, either. Now it’s just a big “get together/conflab” and they do pretty much nothing. They certainly do nothing good. Usually if something good happens within a school district, it’s because of a private fight, not an “approved by the PTA/school board” fight.
They are not looking the lunchboxes (at least I don’t think so – my son never said anything). The fruit and veggie are only ‘required’ if you buy lunch at school…
This is a really good link.
Ah, the French! Butter, creme, pate………..
http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=6902333n
This is what they are “feeding” their bodies. Now, what are they “feeding” their minds?
yes.. they control the education right on up to the media.. we are fed garbage every step of the way.. now we have a society that not only doesnt know, they just dont care to know.. so long as they have the newest apps for their phone and chris brown, scumbag who beats his girlfriend not so long ago; can win a grammy and get a standing ovation just the other night….. our society is bassackwards…
should be working right now,
-jason and lisa-
And this is why I homeschool. Can’t have this.
Thanks Sarah for informing us about this.
This news is also on http://www.naturalnews.com/034979_food_police_sack_lunches_schoolchildren.html
you can actually call the principal about this matter, I did already:
The principal of this school is Jackie Samuels. He is not the bad guy here and may not have even been aware this was going on. It was the state officials who conducted this food police activity at the school, not the school administrators.
The phone number of the school is: 910-875-2584
If you do contact this school or its principal Jackie Samuels, please be polite. Don’t go all crazy on ’em. Remember: Teaching is a very tough job, and most teachers are dedicated professionals who genuinely want to help. My beef is with the state officials who conducted these sack lunch searches, not the elementary school staff. Just let principal Samuels know that you don’t approve of them allowing government food police use their school as a “food police checkpoint” that only indoctrinates little children into learning obedience to the growing police state.
After all, elementary school is a place of learning. But WHAT are the kids learning if the school teaches them it’s okay for government agents to deny them their own lunches and force them to eat processed toxic food instead? The message is clear: Your parents are bad! Government is God! Worship the state, or you will be punished.
Learn more: http://www.naturalnews.com/034979_food_police_sack_lunches_schoolchildren.html#ixzz1mTMfK6kB
I read this last night and it’s horrifying. A friend of mine said this: “I don’t care if they send Mountain Dew, Skittles and Doritos…the gov’t doesn’t get to tell us what to feed our kids!” Oh yes. This is true. Not that I agree that’s a healthy lunch. 🙂 But still. Can anyone imagine how confused and upset that child would have been? I have a 4-year-old too and she would have been very unhappy to be told differently by the school than I had told her. She might have even told them the nuggets were poison and she wouldn’t eat them, I don’t know (she says this to me sometimes if she sees a fast food restaurant as we drive by).
My husband has been into Ayn Rand lately. Everyone says her books are horrible — well, that’s because they hold up the ideal of personal freedoms! He LOVES them. And a quote I read from her is “It isn’t who is going to let me. It’s who is going to stop me.” My new motto. 🙂 That is how we all ought to live. We need to simply take our freedoms and rights and ignore what they think they can do.
Not that this ‘no parental rights’ thing is new. Another friend of mine had her son in public school last year, he was in first grade. On the playground some girls accused him of using a swear word. He’d actually said “fat” not the other F word. It wasn’t nice to call the girls fat, but, you know…he was 6. Anyway, they took him into the principal’s office, I think suspended him, but first they made him SIGN a confession! A 6-year-old! His mom came in and said “My child will never again sign anything without me present.” A few weeks later they did it again, not calling her until after the fact. The child is no longer in that school.
These things are happening all the time, all around us, we don’t usually hear about them. All kinds of assaults on our rights. TAKE them back! Don’t be nice about it. Just assert you WILL have your rights respected and take them to court if you have to. They are OUR children and I refuse to let the state tell me what to do. I am so, so tired of “children’s rights.” They have the rights I say they have. (And obviously I take good care of my children and don’t believe children should ever be abused….)
Argh. This subject makes me angry.
well put..
-jason and lisa-
When you enroll your children in a government program – ANY government program – you give up many of your rights. This should not surprise you! I wonder why so many parents who will spout on for hours about how awful the government is will hand over their innocent young children to be educated by that same government. There ARE alternatives that do not undermine the parents’ authority and wisdom. If you choose the government programs, well, expect a package deal. And while you can fight to change the things you do not like, your children will continue to suffer in the interim because change does not happen overnight. Remember: there are many, many people who would disagree with your positions that must be overcome!! I cannot tell you how often I hear that *there ought to be a law* about this or that, and I am thinking NO!! But those people vote too, and they send their children to the public schools too. FIRST make the best choices for your own family, and THEN work to change the system for the betterment of all.