Chick Nuggets Healthier Than Turkey or Salami on Wheat

So says the Food Police.

Hey folks,

What is in a Chicken Nugget? Do you know? You may not want to look it up. Here is a tip for ya. It ain't healthy. Remember that story we just did about the Chicken Nugget Diet? Trust me folks, if you like Chicken Nuggets, or you are eating Breakfast, wait until you are really ready to know before you check it out. What's in Chicken Nuggets?

Now lets talk Turkey. White meat, carved, or in this case most likely sliced, on Wheat Bread, with Cheese. A Banana. Juice. Which do you think may be healthier? Nope. Not according to Federal Guidelines. I guess.

You've heard the story by now.

“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.”

So the Agent order her to get Chicken Nuggets. Breaded and processed garbage. At a COST to the Parent by the way.

This is just a misunderstanding folks. No big deal. Do not worry about it. The media got it all wrong. Really? According to The Blaze - Exclusive: 2nd N.C. Mother Says Daughter’s School Lunch Replaced for Not Being Healthy Enough Posted on February 17, 2012 at 12:31pm by Madeleine Morgenstern

North Carolina officials have said there was a misunderstanding when a preschooler’s homemade lunch was sent home for not meeting certain nutritional requirements, but now a second mother from the same school has come forward exclusively to The Blaze to say the same thing happened to her daughter.

Diane Zambrano says her 4-year-old daughter, Jazlyn, is in the same West Hoke Elementary School class as the little girl whose lunch gained national attention earlier this week. When Zambrano picked Jazlyn up from school late last month, she was told by Jazlyn’s teacher that the lunch she had packed that day did not meet the necessary guidelines and that Jazlyn had been sent to the cafeteria.

The lunch Zambrano packed for her daughter? A cheese and salami sandwich on a wheat bun with apple juice. The lunch she got in the cafeteria? Chicken nuggets, a sweet potato, bread and milk.

{Sigh} You know, if this ever happens with Josh or Eli, the OPNTalk Blog may have to take a bit of a hiatus. I will be looking for someone to bail me out of Jail most likely. Can you imagine this. You want your Kiddies to eat healthier. You take the time and the money to buy stuff to make for your Kid's Lunch. They come home with a Bill for $1.50 for Chicken Nuggets because the School did not like what you sent? They would have to pry me off the Ceiling.

“She never eats breakfast or lunch at the school,” Zambrano said of her daughter during an interview with The Blaze. “We always wake up early and make her lunch.”

It happens “every so often”

That day, Zambrano said she picked Jazlyn up from school and asked if she ate her lunch.

“She’s not picky about food but you have to be on top of her,” she explained.

When Jazlyn said she didn’t eat what her mother had made her, Zambrano went to her teacher and demanded to know what happened. She said the teacher told her an official had come through that day to inspect students’ lunches and that those who were lacking certain food groups were sent to the cafeteria. After she received her cafeteria food, the teacher told Zambrano, Jazlyn was told to put her homemade lunch back in her lunchbox and set it on the floor.

Zambrano said the teacher told her it was not the first time student lunches have been inspected, and that officials come “every so often.”

Part of a regular program?

The policing of children’s food at West Hoke has been portrayed as an isolated incident, but a curious memo Jazlyn brought home to her mother seems to point to something more.

The memo Jazlyn brought from the school outlines the necessary nutritional requirements students’ homemade lunches must contain: two servings of fruit or vegetables, one serving of dairy, one serving of grain and one serving of meat or meat substitute. Included with the memo was a separate sheet, this one a bill for the cafeteria food Jazlyn was served.

The memo, dated Jan. 27 with the subject line “RE: Healthy Lunches,” was signed by school principal Jackie Samuels and said, while “we welcome students to bring lunches from home … it must be a nutritious, balanced meal with the above requirements. Students, who do not bring a healthy lunch, will be offered the missing portions which may result in a fee from the cafeteria.”

Zambrano, who’s volunteered at the school in the past, said she was never told about any such nutritional requirements before her daughter’s lunch was replaced.

“That‘s not really the school’s responsibility,” she said, adding she’s extremely health-conscious and doesn’t feed her daughter junk food or let her drink soda — or even eat the tater tots or other fried foods often served in the cafeteria.

“They give the choice of pizza and hot donuts…none of that is healthy,” Zambrano said.

According to the program requirements for North Carolina’s pre-kindergarten program, schools “must provide breakfast and/or snacks and lunch meeting USDA requirements during the regular school day.”

The partial or full cost of meals, the requirements state, “may be charged when families do not qualify for free/reduced price meals. 
When children bring their own food for meals and snacks to the center, if the food does not meet the specified nutritional requirements, the center must provide additional food necessary to meet those requirements.”

The school’s reaction

Reached Friday morning, a representative from the Hoke County School Superintendent‘s office denied knowing anything about what happened with Jazlyn’s lunch and said they had no record of a complaint. Reached again, a different representative said they had “no information at this time” about the situation. A West Hoke Elementary official similarly denied any knowledge and referred all questions to the school district.

Principal Samuels previously told the Carolina Journal he “didn’t know anything about” parents being charged for cafeteria meals after the first preschooler’s mother — who has not been identified — came forward.

Bob Barnes, assistant superintendent of curriculum and instruction, told the McClatchy News Service Thursday that the first preschooler to make headlines just misunderstood her teacher when she thought she was told to ditch her homemade lunch for one from the cafeteria: the cafeteria items were only meant to supplement the food groups missing from the homemade lunch.

“We are not the lunch bag police,” Barnes told McClatchy. “We would never put a child in any type of embarrassing situation. But we are responsible to see that every child gets a nutritious meal.”

No you are NOT responsible to override the Parents choice of meal. Yes. I get if you are making the Lunches, you must follow guidelines. Still, calling Chicken Nuggets Nutritious is a bit of a stretch, but I get that. However, if a Parent CHOOSES to send in a Lunch, you are NOT to interfere with that Parent Child Relationship. You have NO Authority to do so.

Barnes confirmed there was an agent from Department of Health and Human Services’ Division of Child Development and Early Education at the school Jan. 30 who examined six student lunches and determined one did not make the nutritional cut — presumably the first little girl whose story made news.

Zambrano said she‘s not positive which day Jazlyn’s lunch was inspected, whether it was Jan. 27 — the date the memo was issued — or Jan. 30. Either way, one of two conclusions seem plausible: more than one student’s lunch was changed, or an official inspected student lunches on more than one occasion — which Zambrano said Jazlyn’s teacher told her had been the case.

In a statement to The Blaze, the Division of Child Development and Early Education said it is investigating what happened but flatly denied any of its employees or contractors “instructed any child to replace or remove any meal items.” The division issued a similar statement to McClatchy even after Barnes said it was one of their agents who examined the lunches.

“It is not DHHS’ policy to inspect, go through or question any child about food items brought from home. The facts we have gathered confirm that no DHHS employee or contractor did this,” the statement said.

Edited by Jonathon M. Seidl.

So I guess in Today's Health and Science Segment we learn that Chicken Nuggets are HEALTHIER than White meat Turkey on Wheat. I guess we learn that, just like with everything else, the Government thinks it knows better than US. As for "The facts we have gathered confirm that no DHHS employee or contractor did this,” there appears to be several Kids and Parents that would disagree.

This is a no brainer folks. Chicken Nuggets are NOT the most Healthy choice for Lunch, Dinner, whatever. Parents the which to keep their kids away from Breaded Processed Garbage have a RIGHT to do so. What say you? Do the search. Check out Chicken Nuggets. You decide.
Peter

Sources:
The Blaze - Exclusive: 2nd N.C. Mother Says Daughter’s School Lunch Replaced for Not Being Healthy Enough