More from the "You can't make this stuff up" files

[PBzeer]

Department of Home-Lunch Security - By Mark Steyn - The Corner - National Review Online

One has to wonder if the next step will be to put her in jail for not eating her "nutritious" lunch.

[LandLocked66c]

Can't be true, really???

[bljones]

Apparently

Preschooler’s Homemade Lunch Replaced with Cafeteria “Nuggets”

I'm surprised sammich believes it, though, since it was originally reported in the MSM, then picked up by the Journal.

Strangely, Mark got the rest of the story wrong, at least according to the Carolina Journal.
Steyn says the "The criminal home-made lunch was confiscated and destroyed by officials,"
while the Journal reports, "When the girl came home with her lunch untouched, her mother wanted to know what she ate instead..."


Huh. Maybe the MSM isn't always inaccurate and right wing commentators don't always tell the truth.

[WouldaShoulda]

Originally Posted by bljones

Steyn says the "The criminal home-made lunch was confiscated and destroyed by officials,"
while the Journal reports, "When the girl came home with her lunch untouched, her mother wanted to know what she ate instead..."

Huh. Maybe the MSM isn't always inaccurate and right wing commentators don't always tell the truth.

Steyn's exaggeration was unnecessary. The story is bad enough and stands alone.

RAEFORD — A preschooler at West Hoke Elementary School ate three chicken nuggets for lunch Jan. 30 because a state employee told her the lunch her mother packed was not nutritious.

The girl’s turkey and cheese sandwich, banana, potato chips, and apple juice did not meet U.S. Department of Agriculture guidelines, according to the interpretation of the agent who was inspecting all lunch boxes in her More at Four classroom that day.

The Division of Child Development and Early Education at the Department of Health and Human Services requires all lunches served in pre-kindergarten programs — including in-home day care centers — to meet USDA guidelines. That means lunches must consist of one serving of meat, one serving of milk, one serving of grain, and two servings of fruit or vegetables, even if the lunches are brought from home.

When home-packed lunches do not include all of the required items, child care providers must supplement them with the missing ones.

The girl’s mother — who said she wishes to remain anonymous to protect her daughter from retaliation — said she received a note from the school stating that students who did not bring a “healthy lunch” would be offered the missing portions, which could result in a fee from the cafeteria, in her case $1.25.

“I don't feel that I should pay for a cafeteria lunch when I provide lunch for her from home,” the mother wrote in a complaint to her state representative, Republican G.L. Pridgen of Robeson County.

The girl’s grandmother, who sometimes helps pack her lunch, told Carolina Journal that she is a petite, picky 4-year-old who eats white whole wheat bread and is not big on vegetables.

[PBzeer]

After reading numerous accounts of the story, the only thing that can be said for certain is that the state is inspecting lunches, and makes a determination whether they meet federal guidelines. If they do not, then a federally approved lunch is ordered for the student.

You can wade through the gobbledegook:

http://www.fns.usda.gov/cnd/Governan...7cfr210_09.pdf

http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2012.../2012-1010.pdf

School Meals Regulations

Or you can read it summarized:

USDA Requirements for School Meals | eHow.com

[PBzeer]

Oh, and they may as well have "destroyed" her home lunch, since her mother claims she was too intimidated to eat it.

[bljones]

Oh good lord, did you not read what the mother said? Did you not read the original source article that Steyn got HIS info from?

When you are willing to believe a lie instead of the truth because you prefer the lie, then there really is no hope of a rational discussion.

[PBzeer]

When you are willing to believe a lie instead of the truth because you prefer the lie, then there really is no hope of a rational discussion.

Whether or not Steyn lied, misspoke, or misunderstood about the lunch being destroyed (a point I have no way of ascertaining, other than by your mind reading), it doesn't alter/invalidate/disprove that the state is inspecting home brought lunches.

Yeah, I've read, as I stated, numerous accounts of the incident, all of which agree that the girl was told she had to take a school supplied lunch because her home packed lunch was inadequate. Which, not coincidentally, is the whole point.

I don't dispute the state's right to require that school served lunches meet certain state mandated nutrition standards. The point of contention is the inspection of home brought lunches in the first place and that a determination is reached that goes beyond the parents choice.

I can easily imagine that you find this level of state intrusion a worthy practice.

[PBzeer]

The home-made lunch having been ruled illegal by officials*, the preschooler was given a federally-approved lunch, for which her mother has been sent a bill. The girl didn’t care for the substitute lunch, ate only the three chicken nuggets, and left everything else on her tray untouched. It may not have worked out all that nutritious for her, but at least it’s compliant with DCDEE/DHHS/USDA paperwork, and that’s what matters.

[*CORRECTED FROM EARLIER VERSION]

People don't usually correct lies.

[erps]

Yum. Federally approved chicken nuggets.