School Food Contract Hearing - Sodexho Magic = horsemeat and more of the same

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The contract in question relaxes nutritional standards - in particular related to the quality of meat. Under this contract, Sodexo is free to buy the cheapest meat (which will likely be treated with antibiotics and/or growth hormones). I was the one who mentioned the medication in horse meat, as a general commentary on the reason that the consumption of horse meat is controversial beyond the "ew" factor. Additionally, since this company is not currently feeding DCPS kids anything, the comments about what they may do in the future is what they have done in the past and what the contract as it stands will permit them to do in the future.

This. Sounds like Citypaper will be doing a follow up article this week!

For all the lip service DCPS gives about how it's the food provider of last resort to DC's poor kids, they certainly come off as callous when it comes to what that food actually is.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So to summarize: there is zero evidence to support the histrionic claim that DC kids are eating horse meat.

Further, there is no data to back up one pps innuendo that horse meat contains meds (still in the tissue) that imperil humans.

So we are back to, essentially,'"ew." Everyone's "culturally" ok with chewing on a cow full of livestock meds but they're upset about eating Black Beauty. Cause she's pretty.

Go home, vegan. In our culture, as you know, we do not eat horse meat. Cultures sometimes are rational, sometimes not.

Other cultures eat dog, gorilla, and rarely, human. We don't eat those here, either. Are you going to argue about those, too?

I'm not a vegan. And in the US, we don't actually have some monolithic culture that eats one thing and collectively rejects another.

Hence the gray/black market for bush meat, shark fin and yes, dog.

But I completely agree with mandated transparency in labeling. If a burger patty contains "50% beef,30% soy and 20% horse" it should say so.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Horsemeat story:

http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-21696325

Can't even. Beyond appalling. And these people are going to be feeding our children? I'm moving to VA next year and not letting the door hit me. Rock bottom doesn't convey what is going on with our schools here. Now we're feeding it to our kids?...

Not that I don't understand your general disgust, but when it comes to food you can always pack your kids lunch.

School lunch is rather low-status.

[Anonymous]

Anyone see an update from the hearing?

[Anonymous]

I am very concerned for antibiotics and growth hormones.

I do not care if it is beef, turkey or horse.

[Anonymous]

The contract was approved. Cheh, Allen and Silverman voted against it.

[Anonymous]

Avoid the dogfood. Pack your child's lunch. How lazy are you that you can't make a sandwich and include an apple?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Avoid the dogfood. Pack your child's lunch. How lazy are you that you can't make a sandwich and include an apple?

Not about laziness. Also what 4, 5, and/or 6th grade boy who plays multiple sports just eats a sandwich and apple for lunch.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Avoid the dogfood. Pack your child's lunch. How lazy are you that you can't make a sandwich and include an apple?

Not about laziness. Also what 4, 5, and/or 6th grade boy who plays multiple sports just eats a sandwich and apple for lunch.

Then include a granola bar and a yogurt.

The point is that if you're incapable of doing a better job of creating a lunch than Chartwells or the horse-meat-seller-du-jour you shouldn't have procreated.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Avoid the dogfood. Pack your child's lunch. How lazy are you that you can't make a sandwich and include an apple?

Not about laziness. Also what 4, 5, and/or 6th grade boy who plays multiple sports just eats a sandwich and apple for lunch.

Then include a granola bar and a yogurt.

The point is that if you're incapable of doing a better job of creating a lunch than Chartwells or the horse-meat-seller-du-jour you shouldn't have procreated.

What about the large majority of DCPS students who come from low income families? I want our tax dollars to subsidize decent food for them, not the reheated junk from Chartwells or its equivalent.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Avoid the dogfood. Pack your child's lunch. How lazy are you that you can't make a sandwich and include an apple?

Not about laziness. Also what 4, 5, and/or 6th grade boy who plays multiple sports just eats a sandwich and apple for lunch.

Then include a granola bar and a yogurt.

The point is that if you're incapable of doing a better job of creating a lunch than Chartwells or the horse-meat-seller-du-jour you shouldn't have procreated.

This is a bizarre viewpoint. If schools only provide inedible nutritionless food, then they should stop providing food altogether. If some children (a small or large percentage) actually depend upon school lunches for the prevention of starvation, then they should be provided edible food with some nutritional value.

Saying that school lunches are low-class and should be yucky is a pretty shocking statement.

[Anonymous]

Of course they're low class, but no they should not be "yucky" (just don't act surprised when they are). Horsemeat or mac-and-cheese, either way it's disgusting.

All kids deserve better than this. Once upon a time we could do that with a piece of fruit and a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, but of course that's pretty much illegal now. Do you know what the single most effective food is for feeding starving children in Africa? Peanuts. Yes. But for some reason, we're all too good for that here.

[Anonymous]

I wish Stokes PCS could provide lunch for all the schools. When my kid was at YY, he would not eat the school lunch provided by Revolution. I sent him with his lunch every day. A few years in, he started asking to eat the school lunch. I thought it was my lunches he was protesting until several of the other moms said their kids were begging for the school lunches as well. YY switched vendors. Stokes PCS was a hit. Apparently the school has its own kitchen. Oh well.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I wish Stokes PCS could provide lunch for all the schools. When my kid was at YY, he would not eat the school lunch provided by Revolution. I sent him with his lunch every day. A few years in, he started asking to eat the school lunch. I thought it was my lunches he was protesting until several of the other moms said their kids were begging for the school lunches as well. YY switched vendors. Stokes PCS was a hit. Apparently the school has its own kitchen. Oh well.

Agreed, it's doable. DCPS and the council should be ashamed of themselves.

[Anonymous]

I have children at Yu Ying. They don't like the lunch, but the vanilla milk is supposedly good. If DCPS did nothing else but supply healthy milk to the 60% or so students in poverty that would be a step up.