A Hawkins County, TN, commissioner found that some schools were actually feeding their students 6-year-old meat. Michael Herrell said that one of the primary school's lunch workers sent him a photo of the pork that they were feeding the kids on April 22, and it was absolutely repulsive.

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The picture itself depicts how unappetizing the food looks, but on top of that, according to WBIR, the package was marked with an expiration date in 2009. Herrell said, "These high schoolers, they understand if they see something they are not going to like, they don't eat it. But when you get to these kindergartners, first- and second-graders, do they really know if the meat is bad or not?" His question sparked change in the district's policies that affect how long meat can sit in a cafeteria freezer before it is thrown out.

Once the school district was notified of the issue, they immediately worked to test the products that were served in some school lunches to make sure they were not heavily tainted. Hawkins County Director of Schools Steve Starnes said, "Our child nutrition supervisor had the cafeteria managers look at the meat, do the tests, and see if it was OK." While there were no reports of sick children afterward, they are still taking precautions to prevent other issues.

Starnes said that all of the lunch meat from April 22 was thrown out, and that the county will only follow USDA guidelines for storing and serving products in the future. These guidelines state that products should be disposed of four to 12 months (not years) after they are purchased.

[via Huffington Post

From: Woman's Day US
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Marisa Russell
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