Preschooler's homemade lunch replaced with nuggets

[Robin Garr]

There HAS to be 1/2 cup fluid milk

Mmm, lots of saturated fat, not to mention delicious rBGH. It's nice to know the American Dairy Association cares about our kids.

Robin, milk is required to be non fat now, although they can still be flavored. It's up to the school to decide if they serve chocolate milk or not. Some of them don't anymore.

Here is some more light reading on the subject.

http://www.fns.usda.gov/ORA/menu/Publis ... 4ea87f6c11

If you can get a grasp on any of this, then you'll understand the challenges that we face everyday in school foodservice. It was certanly an eye opener for me when I started at JCPS.

Deb,
I can assure you that the lunchroom police will not be checking what is in your children's lunch brought from home.
I perused through here briefly looking for anything that says the school is required to replace any meal brought from home that doesn't meet the meal pattern.
This story still sounds pretty odd to me. Who would be responsible for enforcing something like that? I would have definatley heard if this is required now.
I think it's just a random act of someone trying to do what they believe is the right thing, without thinking it all the way through first.

Dan,

Thanks. I too wondered about the oversight- I wondered if it might have something to do with the "more for 4" program the child was in. Definitely sounds like a training issue.

At Norton they previously had white, chocolate and STRAWBERRY milk. Don't know the nutritional content of the latter, but the smell of it made me gag. I'll have to ask Aiden if they are still stocking the chocolate at his school. We don't have a problem with it as a rare treat- he loves regular milk and understands that the chocolate kind isn't as heathy ( regardless of how many commercials he's seen for "tru Moo". )

Deb

[Robin Garr]

Robin, milk is required to be non fat now, although they can still be flavored.

Thanks, Dan. I really am glad to know that about nonfat, although rBGH is still a serious concern. And nobody over the age of 2 really needs to drink cow's milk. Now, cheese, that's a whole 'nother story.

Dan,

No worries, I knew it wasn't local, but I can't help but personalize it. I also think it was the result of some overly enthusiastic busy-body who didn't quite understand the rules. I think I'm most offended that the poor kid was given chicken nuggets. Blech. I wouldn't feed that to a dog.

Plus, my 6yo daughter is a vegetarian with nut allergies (among other allergies) so I always immediately jump to that.

Every day I pack my son's lunch because he may or may not eat what they serve (fun sensory processing disorders/autism). For breakfast/lunch I put in: a cereal bar, applesauce, raisins, green beans and a cheese stick, and sometimes fishy crackers or teddy grahams. Really hard because it has to be something that can survive with a cold pack, but nothing with peanut butter (some of the only protein he'll eat). I think what I pack is definitely way more healthy than the schools give him. He gets muffins that are so full of crap/sugar, sausage patties, chicken nuggets, pizza once a week. Definitely seems like a weird choice to me!

Big brother watching out for your children.

Replacing a perfectly healthy lunch with chicken nuggets. Ye Gods, Jamie Oliver would have a fit!!
If that was my child I would be up at that school in a flash asking the "food police" if they actually knew what was in chicken nuggets.

Absolutely bloody ridiculous.

My eldest child has never liked cow's milk, and she's freakishly healthy. Never had so much as a fever. She's been to the doctor only for well visits, and she's nine.

The younger children love cow's milk, and if there's a virus going around, they're going to get it. Possibly twice.

I'm not saying there's a relation. I don't think there is (caught the youngest licking a subway pole last time we were in NY). But neither is skim milk some sort of amazing health food.

The fact is, kids do not need to drink cow's milk to be healthy. And if they're pairing it with chicken nuggets, it's a recipe for illness.

He gets muffins that are so full of crap/sugar, sausage patties, chicken nuggets, pizza once a week.

The muffins, cookies and yeast rolls and other baked goods we make in house here at the Nutrition Service Center. I can fully attest that they are not full of crap/sugar. As a matter of fact, we are now using flour sourced from local producer Wiesenburger Mills. Chef Jim Whaley has been busy for the past year reformulating, testing and tasting the recipes of the products that we make in this facility to reduce the sugar and sodium content 10% that we knew were to come in the new just released guidelines. There are also very strict caloric and fat intake guidelines that must be adhered to. It's not an easy task.

One of the other things you mention like the 4x6 pizza, are all made with whole wheat crust, low fat cheese and low fat toppings. They took all of the fryolaters out of thelocal schools many years ago, so everything including the chicken nuggets are baked. And we try to bid out as much whole muscle chicken products instead of the processed kind, but there are some very stark economic realities that people don't realize or know about when it comes to providing meals for 100,000 local students everyday, considering that almost 65% of those students are on the Free/Reduced Lunch Program which only re-imburses $2.79 per student for two meals a day. Don't even get me started on the subject of processed commodities... .
But I digress......For a very informative and interesting look at this subject, I highly recommend a viewing of the documentary "Lunch Line". "Lunch Line does a tremendous job explaining the mind-numbing complexities of the USDA's sorted relationship with the School Lunch Program. Lunch Line exposes how politics and private interests have gotten in the way of doing right by kids, but at least now, people are talking." Huffington Post.
http://lunchlinefilm.com/

We should be looking for even more things to put government busybodies in charge of.

Now I will say we are out in Shelby co. Bens lunch while at daycare is provided by the scpsc and other days he gets it straight at school. I have seen dominoes pizza and prepackaged chocolate chip muffins. So I guess should have said what district we're in and maybe it makes a difference.

I hate cow's milk, and have since I was little. I would only drink the milk on "milkshake" days when we got the super sugary kind with the thickeners in it (scary thought now as to what the heck was in that stuff but it was tasty). I remember when we moved to TN they offered orange juice as an alternative, which I was thankful for. I drank juice every day. In high school, though, we also had tea available as a drink choice included with the lunch. Is the milk requirement only for younger grades? What about kids with dairy allergies or lactose intolerance? Is soy milk offered?

Wow, Dan- I knew you were working on improvements, but that's really impressive- and great to hear about the quality of food our kids are being offered.

Thanks from parents and kids!
Deb

Kari, my son gets lactose free milk provided by the school. But we had to get a Drs note and we have to provide his own cup.