Parent Packed School Lunches Unsafe?

Bar Sinister

Executive Branch Member
Jan 17, 2010
8,252
19
38
Edmonton
Not sure where this goes, so I am putting it here.

According to the following article parent packed school lunches reach temperatures during the day that make them unsafe to eat. The article is not very long so I am posting it in its entirety so you need not go to the link.
Children's packed lunches too warm to be safe: study

Aug 9 (Reuters Life!) - Tests of more than 700 preschoolers' packed lunches found that fewer than 2 percent of the meats, vegetables and dairy products were cool enough to be safe, according to a U.S. study.
One in six U.S. residents gets food poisoning every year, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), but it is unclear how many cases are caused by lukewarm sack lunches.
The study by Fawaz Almansour, a doctoral student at the University of Texas in Austin, was the first to check how the food that children take to school is doing in terms of health about ninety minutes before they eat it.
"It was a shock when we discovered that more than 90 percent of the perishable items in these packed lunches were kept at unsafe temperatures," Almansour said.
According to his study, published in Pediatrics, some 705 lunches packed by parents for children in full-time daycare centers were checked for the temperature of perishable food items and the number of ice packs included.
The CDC says that perishable foods kept between 4 to 60 degrees Celsius (40 and 140 degrees Fahrenheit) for more than two hours are no longer safe to eat.
Some 39 percent of the lunches had no ice packs, while 45 percent had at least one. Some 12 percent were kept in refrigerators.
Still, 88.2 percent of lunches were at ambient temperatures.
"Even with multiple ice packs, the majority of lunch items were at unsafe temperatures," Almansour and colleagues wrote.
Almansour said the study had been an "eye-opener."
"It shows there is a problem," he added, recommending that lunches be packed with lots of ice packs and refrigerated once the children arrive at school.

Children's packed lunches too warm to be safe: study | Reuters

Having read the article I am wondering if this is not another case of over reacting to a practice that has been going on for decades. After all during the era that I attended school (the 1950s and 60s) refrigeration of a school lunch simply did not happen. No one worried about the danger of the school lunches packed by our mothers and yet I do not remember any cases of food poisoning. Of course, perhaps we were poisoned and simply thought that we had a case of the flu or some other stomach disorder.
 

talloola

Hall of Fame Member
Nov 14, 2006
19,576
113
63
Vancouver Island
If the food was 'fresh' when packed into the lunch, half a day isn't going to harm it at all.
It is the parents responsibility 'not' to send stale food in a lunch, especially meat in sandwitches.
or old milk products and fruit.


Maybe by the time the crows pack it away from the garbage can, it might not be too good for them though. lol
 

Cliffy

Standing Member
Nov 19, 2008
44,850
192
63
Nakusp, BC
In my day, I took peanut butter sandwiches for lunch, but of course now you're not allowed to do that.
Obviously, I have bben out of school for a long time so I am curious, why no peanut butter? Is it because other kids might be allergic and have a reaction to it?

Deserves 'em right for stealing your lunch, eh.
 

TenPenny

Hall of Fame Member
Jun 9, 2004
17,466
138
63
Location, Location
Obviously, I have bben out of school for a long time so I am curious, why no peanut butter? Is it because other kids might be allergic and have a reaction to it?

Deserves 'em right for stealing your lunch, eh.

Yeah, so many kids are so severely allergic that most elementary schools around here ban peanuts from the premises. At least in older grades it's more class-by-class. However, when my daughter was allergic to wasps, they didn't ban wasps. Maybe grounds for a human rights complaint.
 

Cliffy

Standing Member
Nov 19, 2008
44,850
192
63
Nakusp, BC
Yeah, so many kids are so severely allergic that most elementary schools around here ban peanuts from the premises. At least in older grades it's more class-by-class. However, when my daughter was allergic to wasps, they didn't ban wasps. Maybe grounds for a human rights complaint.
My gawd, we mollycoddle kids so much, no wonder they are so sensitive. We never had helmets or padding when we rode bikes, we ate peanut butter or meat sandwiches every day of school and none of us died or were allergic. Cripes, I really don't think life in this country is any more dangerous than it was when we grew up yet parent suffocate their kids with over protection like they were living in a freakin' war zone. No wonder they are allergic to so many things and have no immune system, they live such sterile lives. Poor little buggers aren't allowed to live.
 

IdRatherBeSkiing

Satelitte Radio Addict
May 28, 2007
14,591
2,336
113
Toronto, ON
Seems to me the obvious solution is for the school boards to provide refrigeration to the packed lunches. Not every kid can go home for lunch.
 

Cliffy

Standing Member
Nov 19, 2008
44,850
192
63
Nakusp, BC
Seems to me the obvious solution is for the school boards to provide refrigeration to the packed lunches. Not every kid can go home for lunch.
With their budgets, they would have to lay off a few teaches to buy the refrigeration units. they would need one in ever home room.
 

IdRatherBeSkiing

Satelitte Radio Addict
May 28, 2007
14,591
2,336
113
Toronto, ON
With their budgets, they would have to lay off a few teaches to buy the refrigeration units. they would need one in ever home room.

Well, in that case, don't worry about it. Kids have been eating these lunches unrefrigerated for years with little effect. If parents are concerned, they can drop an ice block in.
 

WLDB

Senate Member
Jun 24, 2011
6,182
0
36
Ottawa
My gawd, we mollycoddle kids so much, no wonder they are so sensitive. We never had helmets or padding when we rode bikes, we ate peanut butter or meat sandwiches every day of school and none of us died or were allergic. .

Well, you didn't anyway.

I don't really know anything about what causes allergies in the first place but I've read enough fatal cases of people allergic to peanuts being exposed to them.

I always went home for lunch. Nice advantage to living around the block from school. That and leaving 5 minutes before class starts and not being late.
 

Cliffy

Standing Member
Nov 19, 2008
44,850
192
63
Nakusp, BC
Well, you didn't anyway.

I don't really know anything about what causes allergies in the first place but I've read enough fatal cases of people allergic to peanuts being exposed to them.

I always went home for lunch. Nice advantage to living around the block from school. That and leaving 5 minutes before class starts and not being late.
Peanut alergies were unheard of when I was growing up. Seems to be a fairly recent epidemic (20 - 30 years ago). I wonder if it has anything to do with growing cotton between peanut crops. They can spray all kinds of poisons on cotton but not on peanuts, but I'm sure there is plenty of residual poisons in the soil when they plant the peanuts.
 

karrie

OogedyBoogedy
Jan 6, 2007
27,780
285
83
bliss
Obviously, I have bben out of school for a long time so I am curious, why no peanut butter? Is it because other kids might be allergic and have a reaction to it?

Deserves 'em right for stealing your lunch, eh.

peanutbutter is unique in that it sticks to hands and smears to surfaces the kids touch. In higher grades, not a big issue, they're usually smart enough not to smear it everywhere by say, grade 7, but in primary and elementary school, it can be really dangerous.

Peanut alergies were unheard of when I was growing up. Seems to be a fairly recent epidemic (20 - 30 years ago). I wonder if it has anything to do with growing cotton between peanut crops. They can spray all kinds of poisons on cotton but not on peanuts, but I'm sure there is plenty of residual poisons in the soil when they plant the peanuts.

immunologists actually suspect a lack of intestinal parasites and lack of germs in our daily 'diet'.
 

karrie

OogedyBoogedy
Jan 6, 2007
27,780
285
83
bliss
I actually stood looking at the 'naturals' lunch meat selection, and turned it aside for the 'unnatural, super preservative saturated' variety for this exact reason. Yeah, fewer preservatives sounds great, but, I know darn well that my kids' lunches are warm by the time they eat them, so why make it more perishable? lol.
 

karrie

OogedyBoogedy
Jan 6, 2007
27,780
285
83
bliss
My favourite for school lunches was when the teacher had a microwave and I could send leftovers for the kids to nuke at school. Their new school however, does not allow that. *pout*
 

talloola

Hall of Fame Member
Nov 14, 2006
19,576
113
63
Vancouver Island
I would be more concerned about how long the lunch food was sitting around at home than the 3 or 4
hours it has to wait to be eaten.
 

gerryh

Time Out
Nov 21, 2004
25,756
295
83
I would be more concerned about how long the lunch food was sitting around at home than the 3 or 4
hours it has to wait to be eaten.


Unless the kids mothers were too damn lazy to haul their fat asses out of bed to make them breakfast and lunch. The lunches should be fresh when they left the house. Putting a cold pack into it would also keep it fresh.