Tuesday, August 16, 2011

Are Packed School Lunches Unsafe?

I homeschool my kids, but back when they attended a private school, they went to school with lunch. I was just as surprised as the researchers who conducted this study, which was originally published in Pediatrics. The researchers found that almost all of the perishable items--over 90 percent--were at an unsafe temperature an hour and a half before lunch. Many of the lunches were packed with an ice pack, and some were even kept in a refrigerator. Even so, the lunches were well within what's called the danger zone--that is, a temperature at which harmful bacteria and viruses can grow and multiply.

The researchers observed that this study encourage parents to pack lunches with multiple ice packs. They also suggest children remove their lunch from the container and put it in the refrigerator.

In addition, I'd suggest refrigerating all of your child's lunch ingredients. In food service, all ingredients that go into a cold recipe are kept cold, even if the ingredients don't require refrigeration. That's because adding a room-temperature ingredient to a dish can bring up the temperature to the danger zone. So, consider refrigerating vacuum-packed applesauce, chips, cookies, and so on. That way, when you add them to your child's lunch, they won't warm up the container.

No comments:

Post a Comment