As many of you may know September 30th, 2010 is a big day for school meal reform. Congress has the option to increase funding for school lunches at the cost of taking money from the Food Stamp Program. Although tomorrow could be the much awaited day for school meal reform, there is still strong opposition.
One of the issues proponents of school meal reform argue, is that the quality of meat served in the fast food industry is higher than that served in school cafeterias. Over the last few years this has been a major issue stimulating conversation from the break room to Congress.
Most schools heavily rely on the government to provide their staple meat products including beef and chicken. Although the U.S. Department of Agriculture claims that all food provided to the schools, “meets or exceeds standards in commercial products” many can argue that statement as being simply untrue. It has been said that fast food restaurants such as KFC and Jack In The Box and even Campbell’s Soup would not use the meat given to the schools as their product. How can we expect our children to preform well in school when the meat given to them was denied by KFC, on it’s way to compost and ended up on their plate?
Startling reports suggest that both Burger King and McDonalds check for bacteria and dangerous pathogens 5 to 10 times more often that the USDA test beef made for school lunches!
Another disturbing issue is the lack of follow-through in federally mandated cafeteria inspections. Just like restaurants, school cafeterias are required to be inspected for food quality and safety at least twice a year. Unfortunately, this is not happening all over the country.
Despite whether or not congress agrees to allocate more money to school lunch reform, things can still be changed.
1) It is the public’s right to have access to cafeteria inspection reports. If a school has a cafeteria inspection report the public has the right to see it and if they don’t the public can demand they get one.
2) Most schools are given their meat from the government but have a choice in where they buy their produce and other food. Local farm to school interaction can be encouraged.
Most people agree that our standards for school lunch nutrition is unacceptable. Over time, hopefully soon, these standards will change.
References: USA Today, CNN
