sending "hot" lunch to school and food safety

[Anonymous]

My son has lots of friends that bring lunch to school in a thermos - things like pasta with meat sauce, mac n cheese, chili, soup, chicken nuggets, etc. I have never allowed this because I don't think it's safe from a food safety perspective. Isn't the food in there hanging out at the worst temp for bacterial growth all day? My son leaves for school around 7:30 and doesn't eat until 1:00 this year.

He'd love to bring a hot lunch for some variety. What do you all think? Is this actually safe? And which foods do you think would be safest? I assume nothing with meat.

[Anonymous]

I can’t bring myself to do it either. It goes against my food service safety training.

And yet I have taught school for many years so I can tell you that many people do it and I have never known a kid to get sick from it.

I will say that keeping lunch simple and formulaic worked well for us.

[Anonymous]

I have no food safety training so I’ve never thought twice about it. I send a thermos with potstickers, nuggets, leftovers, pasta, etc most days for my 3 kids. Never had a problem and have never heard of a problem among their many friends who bring lunch. I find it easier than sandwiches.

[Anonymous]

Do a test run on a weekend. I would suggest you warm up the thermos with boiling water for 10 minutes. Empty the water, pour in the soup, take the temp and take temp again 5 hours later. Perhaps some posters could recommend a thermos for best results. Keep us posted.

[Anonymous]

It’s really fine. That’s sort of the whole point of a Thermos. Don’t overthink it.

[Anonymous]

I send a thermos with my son daily, prepping with hot water per one of the PP. Never had any issues to my knowledge.

[Anonymous]

You need a good quality Thermos and it keeps the food hot. I know this because I did experiment with both hot and cold items in a thermos and the thermos brand keep food hot and cold about 10 hours. You need to preheat your jar or pre-cool your jar before putting your hot or cold food items in.

We had a few different food jars of different brands and ended up, throwing all of them out except for the Thermos brand.

[Anonymous]

Part of it depends on how you pack the food.

In my house - we preset the thermos by putting hot water in it and letting it sit for a few minutes.

If I am sending something like Mac and Cheese - it is going into the thermos steaming.
Chicken nuggets are coming right out of the oven.
I also send taco meat the same way.

My kid eats earlier than 1 - but he says the food is always still warm. Since USDA says you can eat food that has been out at room temperature for 2 hours - and my kid is telling me it is warm, I think I am OK.

Do a dry run over if you have concerns.

[Anonymous]

Any good thermos recommendations - especially ones that are easy to eat out of and big enough for an older kid? Thanks!

[Anonymous]

I am a food safety crazy person but I would be OK with this if heated properly in a quality thermos. I just never did it because it takes too much time and my kid prefers cold food or snacks. HS now so we don't pack these kinds of lunches.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Part of it depends on how you pack the food.

In my house - we preset the thermos by putting hot water in it and letting it sit for a few minutes.

If I am sending something like Mac and Cheese - it is going into the thermos steaming.
Chicken nuggets are coming right out of the oven.
I also send taco meat the same way.

My kid eats earlier than 1 - but he says the food is always still warm. Since USDA says you can eat food that has been out at room temperature for 2 hours - and my kid is telling me it is warm, I think I am OK.

Do a dry run over if you have concerns.

From a food handling perspective warm is the most dangerous temperature. Food is supposed to be stored over 140 degrees (a temperature that can cause 3rd degree burns in 5 seconds so not what you want for a kid who might spill) or under 40 (fridge). Within that band, warmer is worse because germs multiply faster.

My head knows it’s safe because so many people do it. I figure it’s a combination of the container being clean and sanitized by the boiling water and the food being hot when it goes it that makes it safe.

But according to food handler rules, which of course also have a margin for error, it’s not safe.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I send a thermos with my son daily, prepping with hot water per one of the PP. Never had any issues to my knowledge.

Same here.

[Anonymous]

Does his school have a microwave in the lunchroom? I work in an elementary school and we often warm things up for kids.

[Anonymous]

Food service rules are ultra-conservative because of liability concerns, the risk that you’re feeding immunocompromised people, and the fact that if you’re making a metric ton of food every day the chances of a .01% event are much higher than if you’re making one meal.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Food service rules are ultra-conservative because of liability concerns, the risk that you’re feeding immunocompromised people, and the fact that if you’re making a metric ton of food every day the chances of a .01% event are much higher than if you’re making one meal.

Also, add in the fact that you are talking about ultra-processed foods like mac and cheese and chicken nuggets.

I have no idea how some of you people step out of the house each morning, you're so cautious.