A post not so much about gardening, but a lot about food policy.

Specifically, school food.

I don't know anyone who had an overall positive experience with lunches at the school cafeteria, but it seems things are much worse than when I was in school.

I've recently gotten sucked into this blog. I find it fascinating. I read it every day. But, today's post takes the cake...

It was written by a high school senior. For her English class, she had to give a speech to the school board on a topic of her choosing. She decided on nutrition in the school cafeteria, and the events that transpired after she began her research are appalling. I won't spoil it for you, just read the post, and if you're so inclined, sign her petition.

Now, I'm going to add my two cents. Jeremy's mom is a school cook. And she's told me a few horror stories over the past couple years since she started a new school. Apparently, these problems are either just recently getting worse, or more likely, concentrated in this school she's at now.

I'm talking about expired food, people. Gross. First, please understand, his mom is "the low person on the totem pole," as we say, and has little influence over cafeteria policy. She doesn't condone what's going on, but has little choice in the matter, and is outraged. But she likes getting a pay check, so she's spoken up and pushed the envelope as much as she can while staying employed.

The weekend before Christmas, a huge snow storm knocked out power in Clay for about 8 days. Her school is the only school that didn't "have to" throw out and food from the freezers. She said the bags of shredded cheese were all swelled up where they thawed out and got warm. They just threw them back in the freezer.

Also, the biscuits. Oh, the biscuits. Made from biscuit mix that was purchased by the School Lunch Director for pennies on the dollar because it was expired. He said "it's biscuit mix, it's not going to spoil or anything." I guess he hadn't heard about this, which snopes confirmed. She said they've tried adding a boatload of baking powder to the mix, but it still won't rise. Biscuits = hockey pucks. The kids throw them out. Which is really sad, because most of the kids in that area on are free or reduced lunch. The only good meals they get are the one's the school provides.

The latest thing she told me about was some carrots the School Lunch Director bought cheap because they were expired. They opened the boxes the day after they arrived and the carrots were pretty much mush. Liquified because they were rotten. He expects them to cook with what he provides, so they don't have much choice. You'll be relieved to know, they drew the line at using those carrots.

Where does all this money go that he's "saving" by buying expired food? In the general fund of the school system. To be used for who knows what.