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Nearly Every State Opts Out of ‘Pink Slime’ for School Lunch
Under a new policy that gave school districts the choice, only three states opted to buy ground beef containing the controversial Lean Finely Textured Beef (LFTB), according to the U.S. Department of...
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Letter From The Editor: National School Lunch Program
When I saw National School Lunch Week on the calendar for Oct. 15-19, it occurred to me there might be a straight line to be drawn between the past need to solve a national malnutrition problem and...
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Thousands of Schools Going Without Required Number of Inspections
During the recent three-year period for which data is available, about 100,000 schools in the National School Lunch Program have missed at least one of their two required food safety inspections,...
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Letter From The Editor: Secretary Vilsack to the Rescue
In the long history of the National School Lunch Program (NSLP), there have been plenty of issues to protest. I think it was those “fish sticks” we got in Catholic school that nearly extinguished my...
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USDA's School Lunch Program Moves to Limit Unhealthy Snacks
Anyone who has visited a convenience store near a school lately knows that snacks on campus have grown a little thin lately. At a C-Store near a suburban Denver high school, the students line up in to...
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Safety of the National School Lunch Program's Frozen Ground Beef Products
The government’s Agricultural Marketing Service’s (AMS) Commodity Procurement Staff purchases a variety of food products for use in the National School Lunch Program (NSLP) and other food assistance...
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Humane Society Getting Its Way on "Downed" Veal Calves
For most of the past decade, “downer” cattle were kept out of the food supply because of concern that most were older cows, which are thought to be more susceptible to disease, especially Bovine...
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Removing Fat, Sugar and Salt from the School Snack Menu
Sugary drinks and junk food are out, while flavored water with no calories and fruit cups are in. At least that’s the “Smart Snacks in School” rule USDA-promulgated Thursday under the Healthy, Hunger...
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Letter from the Editor: Fissures in the School Cafeteria
The School Nutrition Association (SNA) is the organization that oversees state and local school lunch programs. It has about 50,000 members from every school district in the country. New federal...
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USDA Misinforms Parents About Chinese-Processed Chicken in School Meals
This editorial was originally published Sept. 25 on The Lunch Tray. On August 30, the USDA announced that it will allow four Chinese facilities to process poultry raised and slaughtered in the United...
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USDA Responds to Charges of Misleading Parents on Chinese Chicken in School...
On Wednesday, Bettina Siegel, author of The Lunch Tray blog, published an article entitled, “USDA Misinforms Parents About Chinese-Processed Chicken in School Meats.” In response, USDA has posted a...
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California Meat Processor Recalls More Ground Beef for Potential Plastic Pieces
A Hanford, CA, meat-processing facility is again recalling ground beef for potentially containing small pieces of plastic. According to a recall notice issued Tuesday by the U.S. Department of...
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National School Lunch Dropout Rate is Small, USDA Reports
Schools are dropping out of the National School Lunch Program over the new nutrition standards, but not all that many, USDA reports. The federal subsidized lunch program has lost 524 schools out of...
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School Lunch ‘Shrinkage’ Aside, USDA Food and Nutrition Spending Will Grow in...
At least 1.6 million students who previously paid for their own lunches at National School Lunch Program cafeterias have dropped out because they don’t like the new menus or the associated price...
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Meat Recalls + Slaughter Plant Shutdowns = Supplier for the National School...
When you think about the food being served in school cafeterias nationwide, do the words meat recall, animal abuse, unsanitary conditions and slaughter plant shutdowns come to mind? Perhaps they...
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School Waivers From New Nutrition Standards Could Become Bridge to 2015
New language offered by the House Appropriations Committee would allow schools than can demonstrate economic hardship to obtain a temporary waiver from new nutrition standards for the upcoming 2014-15...
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Letter From the Editor: The ‘New’ School Lunch
For anyone who still gets the printed version of The New York Times, the pretty magazine among all those advertising inserts is worth a read today. It contains a smartly illustrated story entitled,...
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Spending Bill Bans ‘Chinese Chicken’ From Federal Meal Programs
A provision included in the $1.1-trillion spending bill Congress passed last week and which is now headed to the president’s desk prevents poultry processed in China from being used in the National...
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Ground Beef in School Lunches Meets Stricter Microbial Standards
According to a U.S. Department of Agriculture report published last week, the ground beef supplied to school lunches contains “significantly less” Salmonella contamination than products sold on the...
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Letter From the Editor: It’s All About the Money, Fruit Cup
When it comes to the National School Lunch Program (NSLP), the partisan brouhaha has been about the menu. Later this year, however, Congress will reauthorize the Healthy and Hunger Free Kids Act of...
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