USA Today online is running a story by reporters Peter Eisler, Blake Morrison, and Anthony DeBarros, in which they report that over the last three years “the government has provided the nation’s schools with millions of pounds of beef and chicken that wouldn’t meet the quality or safety standards of many fast-food restaurants,” according to a USA Today investigation.While the news from this report is certainly concerning, adding to the concern is the fact that, like the elderly or those with compromised immune systems, children are more susceptible to the dangers of food-borne illnesses.
For their part, the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) says the meat used in the National School Lunch Program ‘“meets or exceeds standards in commercial products.”’ But as USA Today reports, this isn’t always the case.
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.
The story is not much better for chicken. As USA Today reports, thousands of tons of chicken meat has come from old birds “that might otherwise go to compost or pet food,” but is instead being sold to school children in their lunches. Neither Kentucky Fried Chicken nor the Campbell Soup Company will use this meat in their products.
"We simply are not giving our kids in schools the same level of quality and safety as you get when you go to many fast-food restaurants," says J. Glenn Morris, professor of medicine and director of the Emerging Pathogens Institute at the University of Florida. "We are not using those same standards."
Back in 2000, then-USDA Secretary Dan Glickman ordered the department to adopt the ‘“the highest standards’ for school meat.” One of the concerns at the time was the disparity in the quality of food being served at school versus the quality one can find at an average fast-food chain.
The current rules for school meat are stronger than the minimum safety requirements at supermarkets. However, the fast-food industry has continued to evolve their standards over time while the government has failed to do the same for school lunch meat. Thus the current disparity.
Next year the Congress is set to take up and reauthorize the Child Nutrition Act. This act governs the school lunch program, so there is the chance that the standards could be changed again—particularly since this report has come out.
In the meantime, current USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack has promised an independent “review of testing requirements for ground beef that the [Agricultural Marketing Service] sends to schools.”
To read the USA Today story on the report click here.
Posted: 12/10/09
