food for thought, or not

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Fast-Food Meat Standards Better Than In Schools
Millions of pounds of chicken and beef provided for schools by the government would not meet safety standards of most fast-food restaurants.
That's according to a "USA Today" investigation which found that the U.S. Department of Agriculture provided thousands of pounds of chicken meat that was on the verge of being used for pet food or compost.
Referred to as "spent hens" because they are past their egg-laying prime, the same chicken meat was turned down by KFC and Campbell's Soup Company.
The investigation found that the USDA purchased beef that would have been rejected by fast-food chain eateries.
Also, restaurants test ground beef for bacteria and dangerous pathogens five to ten time more than the USDA does on beef bound for schools.
USDA officials countered by saying meat purchased for school lunch programs is of superior quality and that has a "zero-tolerance" policy in rejecting meat that tests positive E. coli and salmonella.

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@dyslexia,

dyslexia wrote:

USDA officials countered by saying meat purchased for school lunch programs is of superior quality and that has a "zero-tolerance" policy in rejecting meat that tests positive E. coli and salmonella.

Translation: "Hey, at least we ain't poisoning the little fuckers."

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I wonder if they are feeding them Tyson's. 65% of Tyson meat products recently tested positive for e.coli or salmonella. It was so bad that this past summer even Russia banned Tyson pork from being imported in. A USDA official referred to their processing facilities as "disgusting". Tyson just shrugged and said people just need to cook their products to the proper temperatures. Bon appetite.

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@dyslexia,

Gah. This is really pissing me off, how bad school lunches are. This doesn't surprise me but adds to my pissed-offed-ness.

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@dyslexia,

I suppose the question I have is this: is the food really unsafe?

We're not trying to serve Cordon Bleu food to the kids; we're trying to make sure they have a hot meal.

My car wouldn't meet NASA standards, but it's reasonably safe on the roads here.

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Quote:

Millions of pounds of chicken and beef provided for schools by the government would not meet safety standards of most fast-food restaurants.

Quote:

Referred to as "spent hens" because they are past their egg-laying prime, the same chicken meat was turned down by KFC and Campbell's Soup Company.

This doesn't sound like a safety standards issue to me. It sounds more like a food quality issue. "Spent hen" meat may be tougher than KFC and Campbell's prefer.

Also, the article doesn't specify why those thousands of pounds of spent hen chicken meat were on the verge of being used for pet food or compost. They seem to be conflating safety issues with quality issues.

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@DrewDad,

Cook the crap out of it and Tyson is correct - you kill the deadly bacteria. Of course, if someone in the cafeteria screws up some little kids could end up very sick or even dead. The real questions is - is this the best we can do? Is this the standard we want to offer our children and why is it Ok to settle for this? Is it a matter of money or corporate clout? Is it a matter of we don't give a **** if it saves us some tax money? I don't have children so I could say - sick, obese children - not my problem. Silly me, I care.

Last year my school district started a buy local program. They are getting a decent percentage of their produce and meat from local farmers (within 50 miles). Good for the farmers, good for the kids. Two schools also started their own gardens to supply the cafeteria with fresh veggies. I hope this trend continues to expand. Why settle on garage for your children when there are alternatives?

\

1 Reply

@Green Witch,

Quote:

Why settle on garage for your children when there are alternatives?

I always park my kid in the driveway. He starts up quite well despite the cold weather.

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@Ragman,

All that DrewDad talk got me thinking about cars.

Insert "garbage" for garage.

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@dyslexia,

Wow, that's very shocking....thanks for sharing that.

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Also,

Quote:

Also, restaurants test ground beef for bacteria and dangerous pathogens five to ten time more than the USDA does on beef bound for schools. USDA officials countered by saying meat purchased for school lunch programs is of superior quality and that has a "zero-tolerance" policy in rejecting meat that tests positive E. coli and salmonella.

The higher testing rates that restaurants have would seem to be the result of lawsuit wariness due to the US' litigious nature.

Those testing rates would certainly benefit the USDA's "zero tolerance" standard, though.

1 Reply

@InfraBlue,

Actually, It's hard to prove food poisoning , it has more to do with the fact that restaurant owners know if a person even perceives they got sick from the food they will never go back. Nothing turns people off a certain food like vomiting it up at 2AM. It's why places like McDonalds are so in favor of food irradiation, they won't have to worry about people getting a dose of bad bacteria on their McMeats. Most restaurants that have been cited on food poisoning just get a slap on wrist.

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