What the kids eat for lunch at school is a topic of real difficulty for me.  Last year, I had the kids brown bag it every day.  This year, they buy hot lunch every day.  For our family, both options have their pros and cons.  Lately, however, I've been hearing some scary things about the quality of the foods, and especially meats, that schools serve.

One article I read noted that much of the meat in school lunches is bought by the USDA at very low prices because it has been turned down by other major buyers, such as national fast food chains, because it doesn't meet their quality standards.  How dangerous to the kids' health this is, I'm not sure, but the possibility that the kids are eating hamburgers that don't meet McDonald's requirements is pretty darn unappetizing, and frightening.

Even if the meat is good quality, with low levels of bacteria, what about hormones and antibiotics?  Meat aside, what about all the fat and salt kids are getting--despite recent reforms to make lunches healthier?

However, packing lunches isn't ideal, either.  I packed ultra-healthy lunches last year, with hummus, whole grain pita, and veggie sticks; or maybe almond butter on whole wheat with an apple; or how about a hardboiled egg, whole grain crackers, a pear, and a soy milk?  What did the kids do?  Pick out only their favorite part, toss the rest, and come home ravenous.  It was a waste of my time and money, not to mention high quality food.

What made the decision for us this year is that my husband is out of work, and we found out we qualified for reduced breakfast and lunches.  That saves a LOT of money.  But do I trade the kids' health for some extra bucks in the budget?  Where's the happy medium here?

The kids do show some wisdom with hot lunches.  They often complain about "mystery meat" being served.  My son says he thinks it is dog meat, so he opts for something else they're serving or tosses it altogether.  They do a pretty good job eating the fruits and veggies, drinking the milk or juice, and eating the breads/starches being served.  Most of the time, they aren't starving when they get home. 

It's tough to make a decision.  One side of the argument says that all-in-all, school lunches are healthy, especially if a child comes from a low income family.  They get all their food groups in with moderately healthy amounts of fat, sugar, salt, etc.  Proponents of this argument include the USDA and other governmental agencies.

The other side of the argument sites major concerns about the levels of hormones, antiobiotics, bacteria, fats, salts, and processed sugar in the meals.  Additionally, the prepackaging of many meals and the lack of using organic items is terrible on the environment.  Concerned parties fear that our kids are the dumping ground for food no one else wants.  (This is a tangent, but I recently watched a documentary called "The Cove" and they discovered that areas in Japan were sneaking dolphin meat, with sky-high levels of mercury, into school lunches because it was abundant and much cheaper than other options!!)

What are your thoughts on school lunches?  How do you decide?

Here are some recent articles and blogs to famliarize yourself with both sides of the argument.

WebMD's "What are Your Kids Having for Lunch?"

Fed Up: School Lunch Project.  An anonymous teacher has vowed to eat school lunch every day and blogs about the quality of the food, the packaging, and makes suggestions for improving it.

Fast food standards for meat top those of school lunches, from USAToday.

USDA Briefing on the National School Lunch Program