Nuggetgate

A turkey sandwich with cheese. Potato chips. Banana. Carton of apple juice. Why are we talking about a brown bag lunch? Any of a number of Google searches will turn up the news story and subsequent commentary and opinion on the 4-year-old who had her lunch confiscated at school and served chicken nuggets as a replacement. Here is one link to the story: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/02/15/school-lunch-guidelines-p_n_1278803.html. And as such, when people get to talking, there are conflicting reports out there. Whether the teacher or a USDA inspector seized the homemade lunch, really is not important. What is important is that it happened. We are now embroiled in Nuggetgate…

Let’s take a step back here, and begin with this question: should the school/government be inspecting and in essence overruling parents’ choices for their children’s lunches? The lunch this mother packed seems fitting. Sounds like the exact same lunch my mom made for me as a student in primary school. And furthermore, the mother appears to be appropriately in tune with her daughter’s eating habits, “I have to watch her because she doesn’t like to eat vegetables.” And maybe the mother doesn’t want her child eating chicken nuggets.

What is the nutrition content of the chicken nugget? To not target any one company that might supply chicken nuggets under a school contract, we used the search feature on the website Livestrong.com, http://www.livestrong.com/food-and-drink/. We entered the turkey sandwich with cheese, the banana, the potato chips and the apple juice. Then we compared it to the chicken nuggets. (We selected the nationwide brand of Tyson, which are healthier than McDonald’s or Wendy’s chicken nuggets.)

Table 1. Nutrition Information of Selected Food Items

*Above recommended allowance for children under 5 years of age

Source: Livestrong.com: http://www.livestrong.com/food-and-drink/.

What should a 4-year-old child be eating? What is the DRI (Daily Recommended Allowance)? And by the way, the DRI has replaced the RDA (Recommended Daily Allowance). This was news to me too. I had to search high and low to come up with any information relating the nutrition standards for children in DRIs. The information is readily available for adults, but the norm seems to list food items for children by 5 oz. grains, or ½ cup of dairy, etc. The chart below, from the Baylor College of Medicine breaks it down into the components adults are used to seeing when they read nutrition labels.

Table 2. Recommended DRIs for Children Age 2 to 18 Years

Source: http://www.bcm.edu/cnrc/consumer/archives/percentDV.htm

We don’t know if the child was given a fruit, vegetable or a drink to accompany her USDA school- approved nuggets. Nor do we know what the child ate for breakfast, or how much physical activity she gets daily. Whether the toddler’s lunch is perfect is debatable. If it works for her and her family, is that wrong?  Is there an opportunity for the mother and daughter to learn about nutrition from this experience together? Absolutely.

And let’s not forget that the lunch the mother made, bought, and paid for with her hard-earned money, (let’s presume) was thrown away. And on top of it, she was billed $1.25 for the nuggets. Maybe a letter should have been sent out listing what food items parents may send to school with their children for lunch.  I doubt the majority of parents have read Federal Register, Vol. 77. No. 17, from January 26, 2012: The USDA Nutrition Standards in the National School Lunch and School Breakfast Programs contain a staggering 80 pages. Eighty pages of…let’s be honest, a lot information that is not…easily digestible. Here’s a link: http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2012-01-26/pdf/2012-1010.pdf. It’s written for the scientific, policy wonk, lawmaker crowd. It’s not written in plain English that the public can wrap their heads around. How about we re-write it? Simplify it…to 3 pages max. And really, rules and regulations? Let’s call them guidelines. This will be easier for both parents and school districts to attempt to follow.

Perhaps we can find a new role for these inspectors to perform at the USDA. Certainly their time could be spent more effectively in another capacity, such as studying food security? Or ways to reduce food waste? (In 2010, more than 34 million tons of food went to waste in the US. Our country produces twice as much food as needed per person, yet we still have children going hungry and on the Free school Lunch Program.) Where is the disconnect? USDA should bump up the priority of this issue, let parents pack the kids’ lunch, and let schools get down to the business of teaching.

Let us know what you think on this topic? Was the school right? Do you think parents should decide what their children eat for lunch? Or should the USDA be tasked with ensuring all children have a healthy and nutritious breakfast/lunch?

Our next blog post will continue with the theme of nutrition but will feature childhood obesity, so be sure to stay tuned and have your questions ready.