Food and Drink School Lunch = Meow Meow Meow Meow - Page 2

**gblowfish** · 12-31-2009, 09:08 AM

http://www.alternet.org/blogs/peek/1...school_lunches

Why Is Crappy Fast Food Safer Than School Lunches?
Posted by Tara Lohan at 7:20 AM on December 28, 2009.

Thanks to the USDA, at school our kids are eating the equivalent of pet food.

A study by USA Today found that the U.S. government's school lunch program, via the USDA, handed schools millions of pounds of beef and chicken that wouldn't even clear the standards of of fast food restaurants like Jack in the Box and KFC.

The quality of meat in fast food restaurants has always frightened me, but not as much as reading this:

McDonald's, Burger King and Costco, for instance, are far more rigorous in checking for bacteria and dangerous pathogens. They test the ground beef they buy five to 10 times more often than the USDA tests beef made for schools during a typical production day.

And the limits Jack in the Box and other big retailers set for certain bacteria in their burgers are up to 10 times more stringent than what the USDA sets for school beef.

For chicken, the USDA has supplied schools with thousands of tons of meat from old birds that might otherwise go to compost or pet food. Called "spent hens" because they're past their egg-laying prime, the chickens don't pass muster with Colonel Sanders-- KFC won't buy them -- and they don't pass the soup test, either. The Campbell Soup Company says it stopped using them a decade ago based on "quality considerations."

So, our kids are eating food that's about the equivalent of pet food. And a whole lot of kids. The article notes that 31 million students a day eat this meat and "President Obama noted earlier this year that, for many children, school lunches are 'their most nutritious meal -- sometimes their only meal -- of the day,'" which is also frightening.

And it gets worse.

"Each year the USDA purchases more than $1 billion in cheap commodities as part of the federal contribution to the school lunch program," wrote David Murphy for Civil Eats. "Regretfully, the USDA is driven by two factors: get the food for the lowest price and prop up prices for commodities that are in oversupply or are unattractive to business purchases. Not quality. In 2009 alone, the USDA purchased more than $151 million of commodity pork to prop up failing industrial pork producers."

Our children shouldn't be a dumping bin for food waste and a prop for failing agribusiness.

RJ · 12-31-2009, 12:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Simply Red

on fridays, I'd double up the type-a lunch, purchase. That was chicken nuggets, green beans, mashed potatoes and green gravy. That was actually not terrible.

Thus began SR's love of the culinary arts. And the rest is history.

RJ · 12-31-2009, 12:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by vailpass

Lunch? You got lunch? When I was a boy we didn't get lunch we WERE lunch. Every day at noon we had to take off our laces (we didn't have shoes like you spoiled brats we just braided our own hair and tied it around our toes) and offer up our feet to the teachers for their sustenance. And God help us if we didn't re-grow whatever flesh they ate off of us by the next day.
Lunch my ass. That's why kids are so damn helpless today.

Yep. Catholic school was way tougher back in the days when the nuns ate your feet. Our kids don't know how good they got it, huh?

**RealSNR** · 12-31-2009, 12:19 PM

It appears I've been one-upped on my joke.

**Easy 6** · 12-31-2009, 12:26 PM

Farley, bless his heart...

Simply Red · 12-31-2009, 12:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RJ

Thus began SR's love of the culinary arts. And the rest is history.

I was inspired by our lunch-lady, she was a whiz, in the kitchen.

mikey23545 · 12-31-2009, 12:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Reaper16

Our whole food system is ****ed from the ground up and is killing us all.

I assume you're being facetious, but being a liberal I wouldn't be surprised if you're being serious...

FAX · 12-31-2009, 02:48 PM

This country is fraught with stupidity. Fraught, I say.

We are a nation of fools.

FAX

**Reaper16** · 12-31-2009, 02:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mikey23545

I assume you're being facetious, but being a liberal I wouldn't be surprised if you're being serious...

Hell no. I'm being very, very serious. Our government subsidizes the growth of cheap corn that goes to feed cattle and become processed foods of all kinds, especially in its damaging form of high fructose corn syrup. Americans are becoming ever more obese and diabetic because of our industrial, processed, corn-filled food system.

Stewie · 12-31-2009, 03:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Reaper16

Hell no. I'm being very, very serious. Our government subsidizes the growth of cheap corn that goes to feed cattle and become processed foods of all kinds, especially in its damaging form of high fructose corn syrup. Americans are becoming ever more obese and diabetic because of our industrial, processed, corn-filled food system.

Have you ever seen organic tofu processed? It's ****ing disgusting. It puts bologna to shame.

Hootie · 12-31-2009, 03:29 PM

my fun fact my friends always roll their eyes at is when I tell them, and this is the truth, that I never ate ONE SCHOOL lunch after 3rd grade...not in junior high, not in high school.

**** that shit...

I packed my own lunch every day because that stuff looked disgusting. I can't eat food like that.

Hootie · 12-31-2009, 03:30 PM

the last school lunch I remember eating was 3rd grade...I bit into a hot dog and it was still frozen and from that point on, I said enough was enough...thinking of that stuff makes me want to gag...

The minimum it would take for me to eat an entire school lunch on a bet would probably be $200...

FAX · 12-31-2009, 04:25 PM

I know how you feel, Mr. Hootie.

In high school, I used to really like the Sloppy Joes until I found out they were actually made out of a rottweiler named Joe.

FAX

RJ · 12-31-2009, 04:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by FAX

I know how you feel, Mr. Hootie.

In high school, I used to really like the Sloppy Joes until I found out they were actually made out of a rottweiler named Joe.

FAX

Had he always been called sloppy, or did that start after he became lunch?

**RealSNR** · 12-31-2009, 06:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hootie

the last school lunch I remember eating was 3rd grade...I bit into a hot dog and it was still frozen and from that point on, I said enough was enough...thinking of that stuff makes me want to gag...

The minimum it would take for me to eat an entire school lunch on a bet would probably be $200...

You'll do it for $199 because I told you to.

Chiefspants · 01-01-2010, 07:13 PM

You shall receive rep for this Mr. Blowfish, as I will now completely abandon all food served within my school's cafeteria, I knew it was bad, but I had no idea what I was truly eating.

12-31-2009, 09:08 AM
gblowfish Be Kind To Your Pets Join Date: Jun 2002 Location: Glorious Independence, MO Casino cash: $16896178 VARSITY	School Lunch = Meow Meow Meow Meow http://www.alternet.org/blogs/peek/1...school_lunches Why Is Crappy Fast Food Safer Than School Lunches? Posted by Tara Lohan at 7:20 AM on December 28, 2009. Thanks to the USDA, at school our kids are eating the equivalent of pet food. A study by USA Today found that the U.S. government's school lunch program, via the USDA, handed schools millions of pounds of beef and chicken that wouldn't even clear the standards of of fast food restaurants like Jack in the Box and KFC. The quality of meat in fast food restaurants has always frightened me, but not as much as reading this: McDonald's, Burger King and Costco, for instance, are far more rigorous in checking for bacteria and dangerous pathogens. They test the ground beef they buy five to 10 times more often than the USDA tests beef made for schools during a typical production day. And the limits Jack in the Box and other big retailers set for certain bacteria in their burgers are up to 10 times more stringent than what the USDA sets for school beef. For chicken, the USDA has supplied schools with thousands of tons of meat from old birds that might otherwise go to compost or pet food. Called "spent hens" because they're past their egg-laying prime, the chickens don't pass muster with Colonel Sanders-- KFC won't buy them -- and they don't pass the soup test, either. The Campbell Soup Company says it stopped using them a decade ago based on "quality considerations." So, our kids are eating food that's about the equivalent of pet food. And a whole lot of kids. The article notes that 31 million students a day eat this meat and "President Obama noted earlier this year that, for many children, school lunches are 'their most nutritious meal -- sometimes their only meal -- of the day,'" which is also frightening. And it gets worse. "Each year the USDA purchases more than $1 billion in cheap commodities as part of the federal contribution to the school lunch program," wrote David Murphy for Civil Eats. "Regretfully, the USDA is driven by two factors: get the food for the lowest price and prop up prices for commodities that are in oversupply or are unattractive to business purchases. Not quality. In 2009 alone, the USDA purchased more than $151 million of commodity pork to prop up failing industrial pork producers." Our children shouldn't be a dumping bin for food waste and a prop for failing agribusiness.
Posts: 41,011

12-31-2009, 12:19 PM	#18
RealSNR Special Teams ACE!!! Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: Where the hell is SNR Casino cash: $-1364792	It appears I've been one-upped on my joke.
Posts: 93,323

12-31-2009, 12:26 PM	#19
Easy 6 pie is never free Join Date: Sep 2006 Location: the drivers seat Casino cash: $-12225	Farley, bless his heart...
Posts: 98,320

12-31-2009, 02:48 PM	#22
FAX testing ... 1, 2, 3 Join Date: Oct 2004 Location: Tennessee Casino cash: $6753759	This country is fraught with stupidity. Fraught, I say. We are a nation of fools. FAX
Posts: 44,492

12-31-2009, 03:29 PM	#25
Hootie Banned Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Dallas, Texas Casino cash: $10004900	my fun fact my friends always roll their eyes at is when I tell them, and this is the truth, that I never ate ONE SCHOOL lunch after 3rd grade...not in junior high, not in high school. **** that shit... I packed my own lunch every day because that stuff looked disgusting. I can't eat food like that.
Posts: 56,356

12-31-2009, 03:30 PM	#26
Hootie Banned Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Dallas, Texas Casino cash: $10004900	the last school lunch I remember eating was 3rd grade...I bit into a hot dog and it was still frozen and from that point on, I said enough was enough...thinking of that stuff makes me want to gag... The minimum it would take for me to eat an entire school lunch on a bet would probably be $200...
Posts: 56,356

12-31-2009, 04:25 PM	#27
FAX testing ... 1, 2, 3 Join Date: Oct 2004 Location: Tennessee Casino cash: $6753759	I know how you feel, Mr. Hootie. In high school, I used to really like the Sloppy Joes until I found out they were actually made out of a rottweiler named Joe. FAX
Posts: 44,492

01-01-2010, 07:13 PM	#30
Chiefspants World's Best Boss Join Date: Jul 2007 Location: Bronco Country Casino cash: $3584654	You shall receive rep for this Mr. Blowfish, as I will now completely abandon all food served within my school's cafeteria, I knew it was bad, but I had no idea what I was truly eating.
Posts: 19,383