A mother in Coweta, Oklahoma was shocked and saddened when she saw what her son’s school was feeding him for lunch.
Crystal Skimmer went to her son’s school to join him for lunchtime, it was when she saw what was in her third-grader’s meal provided by the school that her jaw dropped. Inside the school’s packed lunch was a small bag of Cheez-Its, a few carrots, a small box of raisins, and a cup of yogurt.
Although each of these items in and of itself is fine, it was the fact that the school considered this a complete meal that had Crystal outraged. Apparently, her son had been eating this lunch up to three times a week.
“This is not OK. How are kids supposed to be doing good in school when this is all they’re getting for lunch?” Crystal said. “Where is the rest of your food?”
Crystal was fuming and decided to start doing her own research. According to the FDA guidelines, an ideal school lunch should be comprised of half a cup of vegetables, half a cup of fruit, half a cup of grains, one cup of protein, and a cup of milk or juice.
After stumbling upon this information, Crystal sent a photo of her son’s school lunch to dietician Dr. Jennifer Jackson to get her professional opinion. According to the doctor, the Cheez-Its should not qualify as an acceptable grain because it’s truly not a whole grain. Although the raisins qualify as fruit, the size of the box provided is only a quarter of the recommended FDA serving size. She did, however, say that the yogurt was a healthy protein.
Crystal couldn’t stay quiet about her discovery and contacted the local media. She criticizes the school for not caring enough about the health of the students.
“I just don’t think they are putting enough time and effort into what they’re actually serving the kids. It’s like they’re just trying to follow the guidelines and just throwing stuff in there, not concerned about what the kids really want to eat or whether they will eat it or not,” Crystal said.
Coweta Public Schools Director of Nutrition Vickie Middleton claims that students have to take three out of five components offered. She says, “that students could take a fruit, a mil, and a juice, and the lunch would be three out of the five and still qualify as a reimbursable meal.”
The school stands by the fact that they are meeting FDA regulations, but Crystal says it’s not good enough and they’re simply doing the bare minimum.
“I was unaware that this was going on at the school. That’s what hurt me,” Crystal said. “If I knew, I would’ve been sending a lunch to school with him every day instead of saying the school is going to feed you right for lunch. After seeing that, my heart hurt.”
Crystals media appearance is below. What do you think? Is her outrage warranted or is the school lunch sufficient?
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