Posted on 01/09/2006 8:20:55 PM PST by billorites
OKLAHOMA CITY -- Several metro middle school students were sick Friday night after eating food that had been left out since before Christmas.
Cafeteria workers at Western Oaks Middle School, in the Putnam City school district, on Northwest 23rd Street made the mistake, officials said. According to reports, the workers left behind a tray of about 25 burgers inside a warmer.
When school resumed after the holiday break, that food was mixed with fish sandwiches and served to students.
Officials said they took immediate action to get the bad food out of the cafeteria rotation. However, 10 students took at least a bite of old hamburger. Some ate the whole thing.
Now, parents are concerned that their children will come down with food-borne illnesses. One parent said that doctors have told them there's a waiting period for some of the bacteria in the old hamburger to become present.
Sodexo Foods handles all the food for Putnam City Schools, and a spokesperson for the company admitted the mistake, saying the cooked hamburgers were left in the warmer. Fish was then stacked on top of the bad hamburger, and because both were wrapped in foil, workers didn't notice the difference.
Officials said they were considering doing some training and retraining with employees to ensure this never happens again.
However, education is not enough for some parents.
One parent said, "And I think personally that some heads should roll. I think that they should fire the entire cafeteria staff. Dismiss everybody on that staff."
I have taught high school for 17 yrs. and will not touch school food. I have seen some nasty stuff. Not terrible, or intentional. Just not what you would see at home. I also worked fast food in my younger days, and sme of what I saw there would curl your toes.
School cafeteria food is so bad that someone can't tell they're eating rotten food? Well, after what I've smelled in some school cafeterias on a daily basis, I can believe it.
Ohmigosh, I'm getting very sick at my stomach just reading this!
LOL!! I worked at McD's to put myself through college (gives you an idea of how old I am, what a novel concept these days). Same here about eating at fast food places.
I never ate in the cafeteria at school...and the funny thing was that kids who brought their lunch were kind of considered weirdos.
It was the day that I saw a box in the cafeteria that read "Grade D" Meat. No way was I going to eat hooves!
Actually, I think "Grade C" meat is hooves. "Grade D" is ... well ... ya don't wanna know.
Ewww! In the days when my wife was a lunch lady, students could tell the difference.
Didn't they notice the smell? Or does it smell that nasty all the time?
One more reason to homeschool and homefeed your kids.
I had a burger at a company cafeteria that had been left under the lights all day and they served it to me at night. When I bit into it, it literally crunched and broke apart!!! NEVER AGAIN!
We did figure out that everyone who got sick, ate the chicken and rice.
But don't government schools have my child's best interest at heart? And surely they would feed my kids something that is bad for them. /sarc off
Our school cafeteria was really good. They made great rolls. You could smell them cooking and they tasted just as good as they smelled.
Lawsuit, Lawsuit, Lawsuit! /monster truck voice
Leave the libbies out of this.
Our rolls were great too. We loved to have "C" lunch, at the end they would put out trays of all the left over rolls. The rolls were fresh the meat was mysterious!
Ah heck, hooves are good for you. :)
Grade "D" meat is probably better for you than higher grades, since it has less fat. Of course it was probably some old milk cow, or a breed cow, that had outlived it's usefulness. Still, be fine for chili or stew, as long a you cook it long enough, otherwise it could be kind of chewy.
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