A turkey sandwich and chips from home versus school nuggets: Sounds like a toss-up to me
UPDATE: As I noted yesterday, we had yet to hear the other side of this bizarre story. Among the reports I am getting today: No federal guidelines led to the subbing of the home-brought lunch of the 4-year-old with a school lunch. There was a state review under way of the child care center at the school, which includes the nutritional content of the lunches eaten by children. A teacher apparently was concerned about one child’s homemade lunch and overreacted. I am being told that the school apologized to the parent. There are probably more updates to come. I am trying to get a comment from the state.
Three readers sent me links today to this story out of North Carolina about what sounds like an overzealous response by food police checking pre-school lunch trays.
A state inspector (not sure what that means) checking a Raeford, N.C., elementary school lunchroom decreed that a 4-year-old’s lunch from home — a turkey and cheese sandwich, banana, potato chips, and apple juice — did not meet U.S. Department of Agriculture guidelines, according to the Carolina Journal story. Instead, the child was given cafeteria chicken nuggets.
While I share concerns about childhood obesity, I still remain uncertain of the right role for schools. This story clearly exemplifies the wrong role.
But let me also add that we don’t know the school’s side of this odd tale. Was the child tossing her sandwich and fruit every day and only eating the chips? Was she telling her teacher she was hungry so she was offered the school lunch? (And was the “agent” cited in the story actually the teacher?) In deference to student privacy, schools often don’t respond to stories like this, so we are left only with the parent’s account.
A reader was surprised to read this but checked and reported back: I was stunned by this, so I looked to the NC website and found this. It provides:
CHILD CARE RULE .0901
Food From Home
When children bring their own food for meals or snacks to the center, if the food does not meet the nutritional requirements outlined in the Meal Patterns for Children in Child Care, the center must provide additional food necessary to meet those requirements.
I am only sharing an excerpt of the lengthy piece, but if you read the full story, you get the sense that, if this happened, it will not happen again. (The full story also cites the state regulation.)
A preschooler at West Hoke Elementary School ate three chicken nuggets for lunch Jan. 30 because a state employee told her the lunch her mother packed was not nutritious. The girl’s turkey and cheese sandwich, banana, potato chips, and apple juice did not meet U.S. Department of Agriculture guidelines, according to the interpretation of the agent who was inspecting all lunch boxes in her More at Four classroom that day.
The Division of Child Development and Early Education at the Department of Health and Human Services requires all lunches served in pre-kindergarten programs — including in-home day care centers — to meet USDA guidelines. That means lunches must consist of one serving of meat, one serving of milk, one serving of grain, and two servings of fruit or vegetables, even if the lunches are brought from home.
When home-packed lunches do not include all of the required items, child care providers must supplement them with the missing ones. The girl’s mother — who said she wishes to remain anonymous to protect her daughter from retaliation — said she received a note from the school stating that students who did not bring a “healthy lunch” would be offered the missing portions, which could result in a fee from the cafeteria, in her case $1.25.
“I don’t feel that I should pay for a cafeteria lunch when I provide lunch for her from home,” the mother wrote in a complaint to her state representative. “What got me so mad is, number one, don’t tell my kid I’m not packing her lunch box properly,” the girl’s mother told
When the girl came home with her lunch untouched, her mother wanted to know what she ate instead. Three chicken nuggets, the girl answered.
While the mother and grandmother thought the potato chips and lack of vegetable were what disqualified the lunch, a spokeswoman for the Division of Child Development said that should not have been a problem.
“With a turkey sandwich, that covers your protein, your grain, and if it had cheese on it, that’s the dairy,” said Jani Kozlowski, the fiscal and statutory policy manager for the division. “It sounds like the lunch itself would’ve met all of the standard.”
–From Maureen Downey for the AJC Get Schooled blog
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126 comments Add your comment
Democratic Plantation Dweller
February 14th, 2012
5:28 pm
It be the government’s job to educate and feed my children.
Serawyn
February 14th, 2012
5:34 pm
What part “of the missing ones” didn’t this ” agent not understand. The child was missing two fruits/vegetables. That is what should have been offered to her. Not shoved down her throat and not a turkey sandwich replaced with nuggets. The kids who eat lunch at school might be “offered” and given a USDA balanced meal but thank goodness the people in the school are not shoving the food down their throats. This is insane!
Serawyn
February 14th, 2012
5:36 pm
Actually come to think of it, a whole banana is probably two servings so it was balanced. Morons!
This is UN Agenda 21
February 14th, 2012
5:38 pm
Serawyn, an entire banana is two servings of fruit.
This is part of Agenda 21 via the UN. Parents need to watch out as soon the government will have more say over your kids than you do. Look it up and read about it for yourself.
JayGee
February 14th, 2012
5:41 pm
I wish my kid went to that school. Tomorrow his lunch would be a box of twinkies and a pepsi.
Truth in Moderation
February 14th, 2012
5:47 pm
The government can run illegal guns across a national border (Fast and Furious) but an Amish farmer cannot deliver RAW MILK across state lines. More people have died from the “Fast and Furious” guns than have died from drinking raw milk in California the past 11 years (0). http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2012/feb/13/feds-shut-down-amish-farm-selling-fresh-milk/print/
There is a disturbing attack on REAL food by the government recently. My father will turn 90 this week. He is the last generation to grow up on REAL farm food….no GMO’s, pesticides, pasteurized milk, inorganic processed foods, hormone laden meet, radiation contamination, etc.
The supplemental school lunch was NO supplement.
The Truth
February 14th, 2012
5:52 pm
Perhaps the state of North Carolina could indulge us a bit and explain the nutritional value of the chicken nugget.
Huh
February 14th, 2012
5:52 pm
A guy from north carolina called in to rush limbaugh today with a similar story about his daughter and a lunch packed for a field trip. Interesting that both stories happen to come to light today. BTW I’m a teacher at an alabama elementary school and I’ve never heard of such. Seems like if it was mandated by the US dept of ag it would be for all schools, not just Randomville, NC.
The Truth
February 14th, 2012
5:56 pm
What’s even more comical is that the schools want to be the food police – I guess colossally failing with providing quality educators, rigorous & modern curriculum guidelines, and strong discipline just isn’t enough.
Atlcracker
February 14th, 2012
5:58 pm
There is truly an obesity epidemic in this country and it about to overwhelm us. There was recently an add in Macon Magazine that showed the smiling offfice personnel of a doctors office. Three doctors and 8 office workers. Everyone in the picture appeared to be obese (more than 20% heavier than their normal weight) except one doctor who was just overweight.Three were morbidly obese (more than 50 % heavier than their normal weight). And this was a doctor’s office! In the same magazine there was a picture of the waitresses and customers at Nu-Way Hot Dog restaurant in 1955. Everyone in the picture was skinny. And this was a fast food restaraunt. What happened in two generations?!
OldTimer
February 14th, 2012
6:16 pm
Nothing to see here. This is just a story about a PTA that got out of hand. Move along please.
Alexander Graham Bellows
February 14th, 2012
6:20 pm
In the days of budget cuts forcing every child to purchase lunch helps out, ya know.
Dekalb Teacher and Mom
February 14th, 2012
6:20 pm
@Truth-As a previous poster stated, these are laws passed down to schools. I don’t know of a single school or administrator who is looking for more noninstructional work. Put the blame where it belongs…with the legislators!
The Deal
February 14th, 2012
6:22 pm
I’m interested to hear the rest of the story. There is no way to check every child’s lunch every day. I understand wanting to curb parents who send their kids in with Coke and Snickers (because, even though it is the parents’ responsibility, it isn’t the child’s fault and the child suffers), but wouldn’t a better way to be to issue a written warning that your child has come in 3 or more days with a lunch that doesn’t meet 3 or more of the criteria. In other words, don’t try to punish parents who are 1 fruit serving short or other minor details. Try to catch the major offenders whose lunch choices are detrimental to the child’s ability to focus and learn.
KIM
February 14th, 2012
6:27 pm
Believe me when I tell you: SCHOOLS DO NOT WANT TO BE IN THE FOOD INSPECTION BUSINESS. EDUCATION IS THE BUSINESS OF EDUCATION. Don’t confuse schools and the long arm of the federal government. The feds would like to tell you what type toilet paper to buy. When are we going to wise up and pounce on the congressmen and women who allow this type intrusion into our lives?
Slick
February 14th, 2012
6:34 pm
The home lunch should have been fine. It wasn’t a fruit/veggie short. The story said the lunch had apple juice. As long as it was really juice and not apple “drink” it should have been fine. As for if she was tossing some of it – I find that irrelevant. She ate 3 nuggets. Still no fruit/veggies, no dairy, and no grain. So is that really better?
Free from freedom
February 14th, 2012
6:36 pm
Well, well. Most of you were tickled to death when the government began telling people they couldn’t smoke at work or even in a bar. You applauded when the government started putting ethanol in your motor fuel. Now your benevolent government is telling you what kind of light bulb you can buy and how much water your toilet can use. And apparently they are telling you how to feed your kid. How long before the agents of government are dispatched to your home to be sure you aren’t smoking there or that you have enough blankets on the beds of your children? Thankfully I won’t be around long enough to watch the sheeple surrender every bit of their freedom to the nanny state. I’m thankful that I lived a good portion of my life when people in this country were free to live their lives as they chose.
Staci
February 14th, 2012
6:38 pm
I know not all people can but homeschooling is a solution.
Just pointing out
February 14th, 2012
6:44 pm
Just pointing out that the organization laying down this law, the state division of child development and early education, was put in charge of the state’s pre-k program by NC’s general assembly last July when the legislature dismantled More at Four and shuffled oversight of pre-k programs to this division on the premise of saving the state money. It is my understanding that this group did not have any power over pre-k programs until the state’s general assembly moved the program into the division of child development and early education, which, again, is the division that has this requirement.
irisheyes
February 14th, 2012
7:12 pm
Stop blaming Obama. This is a NC law. I would bet that most days, the teachers don’t even worry about the lunch, but on this day there was a state inspector there who decided to look at the kids’ lunches and decided that this was a no-no. Once again, it’s a stupid law that the state requires teachers to follow, even though they know it makes no sense.
BTW, the light bulb law was passed by GWB, so can we stop with the revisionist history?? Google it.
Bryce
February 14th, 2012
7:17 pm
Sounds like the cafeteria was trying to prop up their profit and loss statement… it is absolutely ludicrous and reeks of a nanny state when people do crap like this.
mike
February 14th, 2012
7:55 pm
@Maureen…so if a child did bring a snickers bar every day for lunch, what would you do? Would you remove the kids to a foster home? Another issue-does the “inspector” know anything about food allergies a child may have? What type of threat would that pose?
catlady
February 14th, 2012
8:00 pm
Mr. Bellows: Actually the schools want kids to be on free lunch because they get reimbursed more for them. Paying kids actually lose money for the lunchroom (compared to free lunch kids), as, of course, do those who bring their lunch. Title I status can also be important, if you are “close to the line” in percentage F/RPL.
ScienceTeacher671
February 14th, 2012
8:10 pm
At our school they’re still serving pizza and fries. The little girl’s lunch sounds much more nutritious than that.
School Lunches are a joke
February 14th, 2012
8:20 pm
Chicken nuggets are a heart attack on a lunch tray. They hardly qualify as meat. The employee doesn’t understand or care. Home lunches are much more nutritious because they are not processed or at least not as much as the school lunch is.
…and here is the other thing…just because you serve it doesn’t mean they’ll eat it. My kids’ typical lunch is a thermos of milk, a peanut butter sandwich on whole wheat and some raisins. Guess what they eat?
A bite of the sandwich and a few sips of the milk. I have to make them eat the raisins when they get home.
I understand the concern if the kid was sent to the school with a candy bar and a coke everyday but subbbing a chicken nugget for a turkey and cheese sandwich? That’s just plain stupid. The employee ought to be tossed out on his or her ear for not having common sense.
Sheesh….we have enough employees to by nosey enough to check lunch boxes but not enough employees to look in on a monster feeding sperm to the kids? Wonder how nutrittous that was.
Good Ma
North Carolina is marlboro country
February 14th, 2012
8:27 pm
Does anyone see the blatant hypocrisy of North Carolina policing the lunch for a lack of fruit yet they are the same state thjat produces 12 deaths every day from their cigarettes?
Wonder what would happen in the great state of NC if the kid showed up wiht a cigarette along with his chicken McNugget?
Good Ma
Mahopinion
February 14th, 2012
8:38 pm
You want to end the obesity epidemic among children? Then reinstate recess and PE. Our generation had fewer kids suffering from both obesity and hyperactivity because we burned off the extra energy every day, shockingly, we also walked to school. Something not possible with the way school lines are drawn and the overall lack of side walks through Georgia.
N.C. Food ‘Inspector’ Sends Girl‘s Lunch Home After Determining It’s Not Healthy Enough | Tennesseans Watching Federal & State Government
February 14th, 2012
9:02 pm
[...] Journal refers to the person as a “state agent,” while the Atlanta Journal-Constitution calls the persona “state inspector” who was checking lunches that day. In an email to The Blaze, Caroline [...]
J.R.
February 14th, 2012
10:15 pm
It’s stories like this that only prove my hatred and distrust for gov’t is valid. I would be irate if I were the parent of this kid. Tax dollars pay for the school and NOT for the gov’t to tell us what to feed our children!
Roma
February 14th, 2012
10:19 pm
This story was first reported on Weekly World News. It’s FAKE, and you bought it hook, line and sinker. Maybe you should check your sources next time before relying on such a biased source of information like the Caroline Journal. Idiots.
Peg
February 14th, 2012
10:32 pm
Ok This is not just North Carolina, this is every state. This is not SCHOOLS. These are day care centers and the rules are written because there was massive, and i mean MASSIVE abuse. The pre-k centers would get free/reduced lunch program money and they would give a kid hot dog and bread or the cheap mac and cheese in a box. That’s it. They would pocket the rest as profit.
So there is now a law in most states that day care centers and that includes pre-k education centers HAVE to offer a lunch that is considered nutritious.
There are guidelines that must be followed, limited sodium, limited fat, they don’t get vitamin D milk, they get 1% over the age of 2. They have to offer a vegetable, fruit etc.
If a kid brings a lunch, it has to meet the same requirement, this is because parents were sending their kids to school with twinkies for lunch. We are talking about 3 and 4 year olds here.
The school is sticking to the letter of the law- obviously when the laws were made they did not intend for a parent who sends a real lunch to get penalized but that’s what happens when you have idiots who think they can send a bag of doritos and call it lunch.
louis
February 14th, 2012
10:49 pm
I believe that communist country does similar inspections to their citizens. Maybe the public workers need to find out which side to be on. Just a little common sense, if it aint right then don’t defend it!!!!!
BLITZ – 2/15/12: Would You Like A Box Of Chocolates? | JAYFORCE
February 15th, 2012
6:00 am
[...] Kid Ordered To Eat School Lunch By Inspector [...]
Joe Potillor, Jr. (@verbumveritatis)
February 15th, 2012
7:00 am
I think I’ll be eliminating this pointless position if I ever run for governor or president. Get the government out of being mommy and daddy. This is above the school’s paygrade.
Dave
February 15th, 2012
7:31 am
Most comments seem to be blaming Government. Let’s tell it like it is. It’s the Democrats with their Liberal agenda. Vote the Dem’s out and many of these idiotic agenda’s will disappear.
Katy
February 15th, 2012
8:53 am
This story is playing BIG-TIME over at Aussie/Saudie/Chinese owned FauxNews.I checked it out.The one story comes from a conservative think tank and does not go into details,so I had to guess.This is a welfare program,if you let the government pay for your pre-k you need to do what they say,end of story.Repugs want to run al poor folk through hoops for a hand out, yet they run with this story?This Mom is getting a major hand out(We pay 3,600$ for half day pre-k for our four year old,and we feel it’s worth it but…) a handouts comes with a contract.This is why the tea party was a FAIL,they only hate the handouts they can’t get.
Matt
February 15th, 2012
9:20 am
Reading the food guidelines the child’s lunch contained all the required groups and quantities. Meat=turkey, Grain=bread, Milk=cheese, (2)Fruit/Vegetable=banana and apple juice. Whom ever took (if that’s what happened let alone undermine parental control) the child’s lunch is a fool.
Greg Kaiser
February 15th, 2012
9:25 am
Come on, folks. Everyone calm down here a bit.
Maureen was very clear in her introduction to this article that there very well may be much more to this story than we know right now. Some of the comments here are just ludicrous. Saying that it is alright for a child to bring only a soda and chips for lunch, or somehow blaming this incident on the Obama administration, just exemplifies the reactionary, non-sensical kind of response that most of these posters are shrieking their opposition to.
Everyone take a deep breath and realize that there is more to this than we know, so commenting on half the story, without knowing all the details, just makes one look uneducated.
bu2
February 15th, 2012
9:43 am
Other posters are telling similar stories. What is under NC law is clearly a gross violation of government discretion.
I’m disturbed by Michele Obama’s nutrition guidelines. Not every student has her problems. Some students need to eat more instead of having obesity problems. I’m afraid this new food they are introducing will just get tossed by many students and the ones accustomed to pizza, etc. will go hungry and probably gorge on salty or fatty snacks when they get home. It may make their problems worse while causing problems for the kids who need to eat more.
Government “food inspector” sends girl’s lunch home because it’s not “healthy enough” | PhoenixNetwork.us
February 15th, 2012
9:58 am
[...] Journal refers to the person as a “state agent,” while the Atlanta Journal-Constitution calls the persona “state inspector” who was checking lunches that day. In an email to The Blaze, Caroline [...]
ronald
February 15th, 2012
9:58 am
I thought when I awoke this morning I was still in the United States of America?What is going on here is this communist China.I mean this is terrible people in this country better wake up this should be stopped right now write your congressman get this out to the american people so they can see how all our freedoms are being taken away from all of us.
C Jae of EAV
February 15th, 2012
10:06 am
Public Education Is Big Business !! If we allowed that child to keep his lunch from home how then would we be able to justify the cost of the contract to provide lunch service, which in my experience dispite the alledged nutritional value to kids they don’t have eat anyway.
I’d venture to say that 40%-50% of school provided lunches end up in the trash. This story is definately one for the books. Gees.
Jon Ham
February 15th, 2012
10:39 am
For the non-reality-based commenters here, who think this story is a hoax:
http://abclocal.go.com/wtvd/story?section=news/local&id=8544298
Missy
February 15th, 2012
12:17 pm
Why is it a TOSS-UP? When are chicken nuggets ever healthier than a homemade turkey sandwich? Obviously Maureen Dowdy is getting her talking points from Media Matters.
Get out of my child’s lunch box! :: conservativemama.com
February 15th, 2012
1:02 pm
[...] Journal refers to the person as a “state agent,” while the Atlanta Journal-Constitution calls the persona “state inspector” who was checking lunches that day. In an email to The Blaze, Caroline [...]
atlmom
February 15th, 2012
2:23 pm
what if your family keeps kosher?
is vegetarian?
To Mahopinion
February 15th, 2012
2:58 pm
Exactly right, Mahopinion. You wrote “Our generation had fewer kids suffering from both obesity and hyperactivity because we burned off the extra energy every day, shockingly, we also walked to school. Something not possible with the way school lines are drawn and the overall lack of side walks through Georgia.”
When i went to a Western school, I walked to my neighborhood school and back everyday and so do my children today (along with the dog sometimes) BUT APS is redrawing the lines so that my children will have to cross a major intersection and three lanes of suicide boulevard to go to school — they won’t walk anymore if that happens.
We need smaller neighborhood schools that we all can walk to.
Good Point.
Good Ma.
To Buz -- her problems?
February 15th, 2012
3:02 pm
Buz, it sounds like you are a rabid conservative. You write about Michelle O’Bamas nutrition and exercise PR and say “I’m disturbed by Michele Obama’s nutrition guidelines. Not every student has her problems
HER problems? Have you seen her problems?
I would LOVE to have her problems. The woman is fit. She is toned. She is athletic and healthy….and beautiful.
I would LOVE to have her problems. You may be against government “intrusion” in nutrition or gov’t having any influence in our lives but to say Michelle O’bama has a problem? Nah, you don’t have a leg to stand on.
Michelle O’Bama is a healthy role model for me and my children. Look at her children too — fit as a fiddle.
Love it.
Good Ma
bu2
February 15th, 2012
3:19 pm
@GM
Michelle doesn’t talk about exercise which is the real issue with kids nowadays as someone else pointed out above. She only talks about food. And too much of anything is bad for you. Calories are not bad, they are essential. We need food that kids will eat.
You are right about Michelle being toned and athletic and healthy. But with her build I bet she has had to work really hard. And I bet she did it more with exercise than diet. But that’s not what she talks about.
Ole Guy
February 15th, 2012
3:59 pm
Institutional chow, be it from schools, churches, or whathaveyou, has never been known to be of the best nutritional value. School chow was crap back in the 60s; it remains so today; stop blaming kids’ lousy physical states on the chow. IF SCHOOLS AND PARENTS PULLED KIDS’ BUTTS AWAY FROM THE KEYS AND SHOVED EM ONTO THE BALL FIELDS (like us ole farts who have, somehow, managed to stay in shape, even though we were “forced” to consume bad chow), this entire line of “blame someone else” wouldn’t exist.