Focus on school-food safety amid scrutiny of USDA

As the nation's childhood obesity crisis puts pressure on schools to serve healthier, more nutritious meals, cafeteria directors on Long Island say it's equally important to be mindful of food safety.

Attention on food safety comes after the secretary of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which provides food for the National School Lunch Program, ordered an independent review of testing procedures.

This comes after USA Today reported this week that meat sold in fast-food restaurants undergoes more rigorous checks for bacteria and pathogens than USDA beef given to schools.

"The school lunch program shouldn't be a dumping ground for food that's not fit for sale," said Sarah Klein, an attorney for the Center for Science in the Public Interest.

She said the USDA should look at improving school food safety standards while it looks to upgrade nutritional standards.

Food safety concerns from raw meat is a major reason schools have limited the number of meals that are cooked from scratch and cafeteria meals are increasingly made up of processed food, Long Island school food directors said.

"When you have to cook, there's a higher chance of food poisoning," said Adrianne Goldenbaum, food service director for West Babylon schools. "Most of the products we get nowadays are processed and precooked."

Thomas Murphy, school lunch manager for the Longwood district, said he purchases most of the meat served in schools and that 10 percent of it comes from the government.

He said that's because processed meat is easier and safer to handle when serving mass amounts of children.

Murphy pointed out that fast-food chains, notably Jack in the Box, faced E. coli disasters that schools haven't experienced.

USDA foods, he said, "are not inferior products. It just has a stigma of 'mystery meat.' " Instead of surplus goods, he said he's noticing more name brands from the USDA.

Kevin Hannon Jr., in charge of feeding students in Long Beach schools, said he doesn't believe USDA meat is of a lower quality, but schools are often constrained by budgets.

"I could go leaner if I had more money," he said of meat purchases.

School food directors take extra steps to improve the quality of meat, regardless of government testing, said Rick Belyea, spokesman for the Brentwood district.

The district sends USDA meat to a processor that produces products with lower fat content, he said, adding that food-borne issues often stem from handling and cooking, not the quality of meat.