USDA deems preschoolers lunch unhealthy, throws it away

sparks19

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#1
:yikes:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...favour-chicken-nuggets.html?ito=feeds-newsxml

Ok... I can understand that school prepared lunches (like school cafeterias or food provided through the school) have to have a meat, 2 veggies, a fruit and milk. I get that but On what planet is it OK to take a lunch prepared for a child at home and throw it away.

I understand there is a childhood obesity problem... a big one but that doesn't make it OK for anyone else to decide what my child can and cannot eat.

The worst part was this particular incident the child had a turkey and cheese sandwich, a banana and potato chips and apple juice and they took it and replaced it with chicken nuggets, veggie sticks and some other stuff. on what planet are chicken nuggets healthier than a turkey and cheese sandwich?

On top of that DON'T throw out perfectly good food that I PAID for with our hard earned money and THEN make me pay for the school lunch you forced on my child.

I agree that kids needs healthier meals but I also realize that kids are kids and they just don't like certain things... forcing them to eat them is only going to ensure that they will probably never again touch that vegetable as an adult. I didn't like most things as a kid. I didn't like meat unless it was a hamburger or chicken nugget, I didn't like most veggies etc etc. Now as an adult I happily eat all of those things and like them. you never would have gotten broccoli into me as a child but it's my favorite thing now. Had my mom forced me to eat it I probably wouldn't be eating it today. Hannah went through a very picky phase where she didn't want any veggies at all and not much int he way of meat. I left her alone about it, I presented veggies at meals but if she didn't eat them then she didn't eat them. Now she's becoming more and more willing to try new things and is starting to like veggies again. She's a kid, it's not unusual.

But yeah throw out a perfectly good lunch that the parent PAID FOR and then replace it with something even worse and then make the parent pay for that?

That's complete and utter BS. Again I understand the childhood obesity problem and if the child is relying on a school prepared lunch then fine... make those requirements whatever you wish but I find it absolutely unacceptable to start throwing out food sent by parents because the government said so. Are they going to start regulating what we are allowed to feed our kids at home now too? what we are allowed to buy at the grocery store? slippery slope if you ask me
 

LauraLeigh

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#4
Back in NS I had a teacher tell me I "had" to put fresh fruit in the kids lunch...

In those days, we were struggling and my kids would often leave the apple, bannana, etc to go bad... I decided not to waste my money anymore... And was treated like some kind of child abuser...

This was the same teacher who threatened to report me for having two children of opposite sex (5&6 at the time) share a room... That is was a twisted thing to do.... Our home was two bedroom....

I pretty much said go Ahead, our kids were happy, healthy, well adjusted and well fed... If sharing a room was going to mess them up, then there are bigger issues....

I also remember being very frustrated because at the time Jeff had a cousin popping out kids like candy, by different Dads, and our welfare system gave her a bigger place automatically each time... She had a far nicer, larger home than us... And had never worked a day in her life!
 

Lilavati

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#5
I read that story, and think the whole thing is absurd, but there is more to the story. The problem seems to lie with the school, not the USDA, or HHS (although there should be no such rule).

http://www.outsidethebeltway.com/pr...ggets-after-bag-lunch-fails-state-inspection/

Now, I think that inspecting kid's lunches is absurd and outrageous, and that they have no right to tell parents what they can feed their kids unless the children are manifestly unhealthy. It is doubly ridiculous to require the USDA's current requirements in miniature for each lunch . . . perhaps you have your fruit and dairy at lunch and your meat and grain for dinner . . . and whose business is it anyway. I also wonder . . . how does anyone pass inspection if they are vegetarians?

But there IS more to the story of what happened here. The lunch should have passed inspection, and I have a suspicion that the person who inspected it was not only under-trained, but was encouraged to fail lunches so the school could make more money. Moreover, they are only supposed to replace the "missing" items, and she had meat. So, although the rule is outrageous, it was also implemented incorrectly.

Edit: Also, the headline is wrong. The USDA (and agency I despise, I'll note) just makes the daily standards. HHS made the rule, and the school implemented it. The USDA did not deem the kid's lunch unhealthy and had nothing to do with it being thrown away.
 

Zoom

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#8
For this particular instance, yes, the USDA doesn't fully get the blame. That does lie with the school.

I'd be pitching one hell of a royal fit if this had been my kid.
 

sparks19

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#9
yeah well I couldn't think up a better title that wasn't a mile long lol. seriously I spent 2 or 3 minutes trying to come up with a title lol. I was at a loss as to how to describe the situation in only a few words :rofl1:

but yeah that requirement for school prepared lunches... fine but to demand that parents send in one meat, one fruit, two vegetables and a milk in every lunch is insane. How much of that food is going to complete waste because 4 year olds are A) picky eaters and B) what 4 year old eats THAT much everyday for lunch? Hannah eats a lot but there is no way she would put down that much food at once. What a WASTE.

ETA: I am actually not so sure I'm even OK with the school being required to serve every child one meat, one fruit, two veggies and milk... that's just as big a waste and with schools complaining about budget issues more and more how is wasting that much food going to help anything?
 

sparks19

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#11
For this particular instance, yes, the USDA doesn't fully get the blame. That does lie with the school.

I'd be pitching one hell of a royal fit if this had been my kid.
Ditto and I sure as hell wouldn't be paying the school lunch fee (even if it is less than $2) and if they are going to make an issue of this they can buy my groceries too
 

Lilavati

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#13
Outrageous! My goodness! This country is not the America I once knew.

See my last post . . . as much as I'd like to be outraged, as the details emerge . . . this isn't the story it has been sold as. It might still be objectionable from a certain standpoint, but the facts are very different from the story being circulated.
 

CaliTerp07

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#15
From Lil's link:

The original story further obscures that in no circumstance was this child – or any child, for that matter – being forced to eat the school-provided lunch, nor was this child -or any other child – deprived of her boxed lunch. Instead, as the second linked story acknowledges, the child was just provided with additional food and given the option to consume that in addition to her boxed lunch. In other words, the claim that the school “replaced” this girl’s turkey sandwich, banana, apple, potato chips, and juice with chicken nuggets is totally bogus.

By and large, what this story boils down to is that a low-income child whose tuition is fully subsidized by the state under a program her mother opted into was offered some additional food to supplement the boxed lunch she brought from home. This option was provided not because of some overarching, generally applicable law or regulation, but because the program in which her mother and school voluntarily participate requires such an option be available. The mother apparently objects to this option being provided to her daughter, not because of any health concerns or the like, but because she incorrectly believes that she will be charged additional money for her child being provided this option. Since she won’t in fact be charged for this and there is no evidence she was ever going to be charged for it, there is absolutely no harm actually being done to her or her child.
Sounds like a whole bunch of hullabaloo about nothing.
 

LauraLeigh

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#16
From Lil's link:



Sounds like a whole bunch of hullabaloo about nothing.
This case may have been.....

But I do know some schools/ teachers have a ridiculous "I know BEST complex" I have been on the receiving end of that before.... As long as my kids are happy, healthy, well adjusted and not abused... Stay out of my home!!!
 

sparks19

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#17
I'm glad to hear it and I hope all the info in that link is the real truth.

It still seems like a huge waste. I mean I suppose some kids can but Hannah just could not eat a serving of meat, a serving of fruit and two servings of veggies and milk (was grain a requirement? I can't remember and I"m too lazy to look at this point) in one sitting. there is no WAY she would even eat half of that at one time not to mention how many kids wouldn't touch half of that food anyway because they just dont' like it because like it or not 4 year olds can be picky no matter how much you shove vegetables at them. I also don't like the idea of giving more children the subsidized lunches (even if they aren't needed) just to get more money ... kind of seems like a vicious cycle. Give kids more food than most would or could eat that costs money to get more money? That logic is lost on me.

Either way... I hope it's true for a number of reasons but also because I would be really ticked if I was sending food only for it to be thrown away because it's not good enough. Food isn't FREE lol
 

sparks19

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#18
This case may have been.....

But I do know some schools/ teachers have a ridiculous "I know BEST complex" I have been on the receiving end of that before.... As long as my kids are happy, healthy, well adjusted and not abused... Stay out of my home!!!
yeah I meant to comment on your post about that... that is NUTS.

I know my nephew and his family had some issues kind of like this when he was in school. Teachers and school officials butting in for things that shouldn't even be a concern or any of their business while kids who truly need help go by the way side while they waste time because little johnny didn't bring an apple with his lunch or something
 

Lilavati

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#19
This case may have been.....

But I do know some schools/ teachers have a ridiculous "I know BEST complex" I have been on the receiving end of that before.... As long as my kids are happy, healthy, well adjusted and not abused... Stay out of my home!!!
Oh, I agree! (Although having volunteered as a teenager as some inner city schools, I do understand the other side in some cases. Jesus, those poor kids . . . but they were not happy,healthy, well adjusted and some of them WERE abused).

But stories like this 1) spread hysteria, 2) make people with legitimate concerns look like loons when the cite them and 3) just aren't true. Watching this story come apart on my RSS feed today was an interesting lesson in how stories like this spread much faster than they get discredited. That's why I've kept pointing out inaccuracies as I have become aware of them (I haven't actively LOOKED for information to discredit them). Not because I think anyone SHOULD do anything like this, but because the story just isn't true, and people should not get this worked up about it.

If we want to discuss the proper role of government with regard to children's nutritional needs based on the real story, that would be great. But fake outrage isn't a basis for intelligent discussion.
 

LauraLeigh

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#20
I really think, looking back now they saw a very young set of patents who were fairly poor and struggling and made a ton of biased judgements...
 

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