I have to be honest with you, Internet. Most of the bad news I blog about for WOYP doesn’t exactly shock me. Sure, I’m pessimistic, I’m cynical, I’m infuriatingly ready to say “I told you so,” but so far my cynicism has been rewarded. But today, Internet, I am going to blog about something that blew my mind straight out of my forehead and onto the keyboard in front of me. I was shocked, I was appalled. I thought I knew where the madness ended, I thought I knew what we were dealing with. I was wrong.
I’m being melodramatic, yes, but seriously: The meat served at this great nation’s school lunches may be less safe than the meat at McDonalds. According to an investigation done by USA Today found that McDonalds, KFC, and Jack in the Box test the meat they buy 5 to 10 times more often than the USDA requires schools to. And what’s more, these restaurants have consistently refused to buy certain kinds of low-quality meats that the USDA nonetheless approves. Yes, you read right. McDonalds holds itself to a higher standard than the USDA holds elementary school cafeterias. And that ain’t all: Costo and Campbell Soup also succeed where the USDA fails. This is despicable, internet. McDonalds! As in, the terrible sensation that you are eating something as far removed from an organic source as the plastic utensils you’re eating with, and they’re more careful about bad meat than the schools we send kids to?! That’s like putting kids in a school bus that was rejected by Greyhound for being unsafe.
Internet, I don’t need to tell you how absurd this is. The Folks over at CREDO have a petition drawn up. If you click this link you’ll sign it automatically. This absolutely can’t go on. I can’t stop private companies like McDonalds from making awful food, but they had better be the worst thing out there. To have schools make food worse than those grey burgers is unacceptable.
