Fat: It's what's for lunch

Posted at 2:12 PM on November 29, 2010 by Bob Collins (3 Comments)
Filed under: Health

Nothing says "fun" like a wad of fat stuffed in collagen casings.

The "Fun Lunch" for Marcy Open School in Minneapolis today turned out to be "crackers, a beef stick, peaches in syrup, and yogurt," a parent reported to me today after she checked out what was in the "fun lunch" that appeared on the sent-home school lunch menu. "They had a choice of a pizza stick or a beef stick," a school spokesperson confirmed for me this afternoon.

The beef sticks are billed as "all natural." Check out the label, though. They'll keep until November of next year.

"This sounds like something you get when you are drunk and only have $.59 at The Holiday Station, not something to feed children who do not/cannot bring a nutritious lunch from home," the parent said.

Minnesota schools are at the front lines of the battle against fat, an MPR series last March proclaimed. It noted that Minneapolis schools removed "all fryers from schools so french fries are no longer available. Cookies have also been removed from menus."

Beef sticks? Still good. But the students may not have the same opinion. A table in the middle of the lunch room -- where students put the food they don't want -- was reportedly full of "beef sticks" and yogurt today.

Last month, the beef stick manufacturer -- Klement -- recalled 2,800 pounds of beef sticks after a retail chain reported consumer complaints about finding hard plastic and pieces of glass in the meat. Today's meal was not part of the recall, however.

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Comments (3)

Beef sticks are surely lousy fare, loaded as they are with nitrates, etc, but this post would be better off lamenting their being highly processed, rather than" fats." The problem with fries and cookies are related to the refined carbohydrates and trans fats (i.e. processing again) they contain. A misplaced demonizing of dietary fat, however, is the scientific and cultural calamity of our time, the very reason we have the diabesity epidemic and heart disease we do today. My 2cents, anyways..

Posted by Paul Scott | November 29, 2010 2:50 PM

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That hardly sounds like a meal anyways, especially if the kids aren't even eating the beef sticks or yogurt - so essentially, they are eating crackers and "peaches" for lunch. I don't think I would make it for more than a couple hours eating the entire "lunch", before I would get hungry again.

Posted by Noelle | November 29, 2010 3:15 PM

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When my girls were young I used to make 'surprise plates' for lunch sometimes; typically when I was at a loss and they were whining. Crackers, yogurt, cheese, sliced deli meat and a piece of fruit (apple, banana etc). It sounds like the 'lunch lady' was at a loss today.

Posted by Cara | November 29, 2010 11:15 PM

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