school tells mom that childs lunch is unhealthy and send bil

My daughter attends school in Wake County. I make her lunch every day because frankly I am appalled at the lunch menus. I can't believe they have the gall to call what they feed students food and then berate this parent for sending her child to school with a healthy lunch. Another example of government being where it doesn't belong.

I was a little suspicious of this article, so I did a little more digging and found this expanded article about the subject:

http://www.carolinajournal.com/exclusives/homemade-lunch-replaced-with-cafeteria-nuggets.html

There is a lot more information in this article, including the fact that the replacement meal contained chicken nuggets.

As everyone surely knows, chicken nuggets are MUCH MORE NUTRITIOUS than turkey sandwiches. :frown:

And here is what the children at that school were offered for lunch today, according to the Hoke County Schools website:

Beef-A-Roni
Steamed Cabbage
Spiced Apples
Constitutional Cornbread
Valentine Sugar Cookie

I was a little suspicious of this article, so I did a little more digging and found this expanded article about the subject:

http://www.carolinajournal.com/exclusives/homemade-lunch-replaced-with-cafeteria-nuggets.html

There is a lot more information in this article, including the fact that the replacement meal contained chicken nuggets.

As everyone surely knows, chicken nuggets are MUCH MORE NUTRITIOUS than turkey sandwiches. :frown:

Thank you for posting that link.
I am very familiar with the Federal Guidelines that dictate what child care centers HAVE to serve children in their care. Even though this was in a school, this situation is still considered child care. Since the child was in the program, i.e. under their care, the provider (in this case, the school) is required to follow Federal Guidelines.
Under the Federal Guidelines, a serving of protein (in this case turkey & cheese - cheese is usually considered a protein not a dairy) HAS to be 1 1/2 ounces. So was there enough protein? Was the cheese actual cheese or was it "cheese product?" 2 slices of bread (even white bread) more than covers the requirement for grain. A banana and a juice (providing it was real juice and not kool-aid) meet the 1/2 cup requirement.
It's a pretty good chance that this "inspector" was only there to inspect the Pre-K children's meals. Of course I didn't see the meal but it sounds like to me that a carton of milk would have been the only thing needed to round off this meal. I am certainly not defending the inspector! Just trying to look at both sides.
Did the parent understand what the program is required to feed the children for each meal? I would guess so since it's February - at least 5 months into the school year. So what motivated the parent going to the media? Was she concerned other parents were getting charged or was she seeking attention? Believe me, that does happen!
So, should the parents get charged for meals that do not meet the Federal Guidelines? I'm on the fence on that one. If it is a mistake, no don't charge them. But there are people who would abuse it just to get their kid free lunches when they don't qualify.
This program is most likely funded by state and federal monies. It may be seen as dictating what a child can eat but the guidelines are there to ensure each and every child is offered a nutritious meal. If the program does not meet the guidelines set, they will lose their funding and have to close. Then none of the children will get the benefits of a Pre-K program.
Now, I'm not saying chicken nuggets are healthier than turkey however this is what I do know about those two meats - I don't believe any school deep-fries their food so these were baked. Foods such as these need to meet certain guidelines. Deli turkey, on the other hand, has tons of sodium. I think I asked the last time I was at the deli and 1 serving of Roasted Turkey Breast from the deli had at least 1/4 the daily sodium recommended for an adult. So, actually, I don't think either one is better than the other.
I am by no means an expert but I do know that most news stories are one-sided. There is almost always more to it.

This irritates the crap out of me. My son who is 6, is over weight. Long story short, he used to be underweight and the doctor thinks he will grow out of it. I on the other hand think that we need to eat healthier and show our son that we can eat good and stay moving. That is why I am trying hard to lose weight and eat healthy. I started packing my son's lunch 3 times a week and feed him breakfast at home everyday. He has lost 9 pounds in 3 weeks just from that not eating school food. His class gets a snack everyday that is provided by the parents. Yesterday he had cake. The day before that he had pixi sticks. Who the hell sends their child with sugar for a snack?!! I can not control what they give him for the snack time except when it is out turn to provide. The school nurse was suppose to have the teacher send notes home stating that snacks need to be healthier especially at this time of year when it is hard for kids to be outside. Why dont the food police at school monitor snack time and worry about what is actually in the school lunch such as high carbs, sugar and sodium??

They ought to send that inspector back into the kitchen. When I was in high school my mom was a lunch lady. On several occasions she walked up to me while I was waiting in line and told me I needed to eat the salad bar that day because the slop they were serving was unsafe in some way. Sometimes the food was expired, other times it had been in the freezer for longer than a year and in one gross, gross instance another lunch lady's false finger nail (which were banned, by the way) fell off into the cooking pot and disappeared.

The most frequent reason she'd warn me about the food was when it had a ridiculous fat content. The one I remember as the worst was the hash brown triangle with 50 grams of fat. I can only imagine how much fat that girl sucked down with those three chicken nuggets.

I know that they have come a long way to provide veggies and fruits at the public schools but the main menu is still so full of FAT!!! None of the teachers eat it cause they know they will get fat eating it too!!

I don't know if this has been said, but lunch inspections are commonplace in the UK. That's what we get for spawning Jamie Oliver

I cant see anywhere on that link what precisely the lunch consisted of. Can anyone shed any light please?

How about these for a school menu? Not too shabby I'd say

http://www.cokethorpe.org.uk/index.cfm?page=info.content&cmid=226

My youngest is registered for there. Oh god it's going to bankrupt me haha



And this is my eldest's lunch menu http://www.woodgreen.oxon.sch.uk/restaurant/restaurant.htm




Jamie Oliver has done wonders for school grub without a doubt. Kids today should not be fed the trash we had when I was a kid.

I don't know if this has been said, but lunch inspections are commonplace in the UK. That's what we get for spawning Jamie Oliver

I love Jamie Oliver, reeeeeespek to him for his efforts, even though they fell on deaf ears in some quarters. It's sad to think of those dumb mothers pushing doughnuts through the fence for their children. My children are at school in Ireland and they're only allowed brown bread. Chocolate spread is only allowed on fridays! no croissants, no brioche doree, no crisps, no biscuits, no chocolate................... thems the roooolz. It's good news and it means children aren't nagging you for junk becase their little chums have it. Jamie Oliver's "effect" has rippled out to Ireland (although we have our own initiatives as well).