That sounds like a good solution. If the food remains cold, that's what counts.
135 posted on Tue Sep 25 2012 02:35:46 GMT-0500 (Central Daylight Time) by pops88: “My daughter had a year of a school day being from 5:30 am- 4:00 pm thanks to being in a special program. I worried a bit about refrigeration as an RN, then had the revelation that a lot of what we’re told by the USDA is nanny state crap and the chance of her getting ill was extremely unlikely, especially since her meat sandwich was eaten at lunch. It wasn’t baking out in the sun and was pretty well insulated in her backpack or locker. I never packed her tuna fish salad though.”
Again, you're the mom and it's not my place to make decisions in your home — especially since you're an RN.
In my school growing up with no air conditioning and high temperatures in the locker room area where lunches were stored, my meat sandwiches and hard-boiled eggs routinely turned slimy and tasted bad, especially if mayonnaise rather than mustard was used. I have little doubt that at least some of my “tummyaches” and diarrhea and occasional vomiting were due to food poisoning. That was long ago and far away; today someone would have stopped my parents from sending unsafe lunches. There are risks to brown-bagging, but I think it's become clear that government involvement has exchanged one set of problems for a much worse set.
“Again, you’re the mom and it’s not my place to make decisions in your home — especially since you’re an RN.
In my school growing up with no air conditioning and high temperatures in the locker room area where lunches were stored, my meat sandwiches and hard-boiled eggs routinely turned slimy and tasted bad, especially if mayonnaise rather than mustard was used.”
I was very thoughtful about it and am cognizant of food safety. Mayonnaise is preserved with vinegar. As kid, I remember when delis let it sit out on the table all day. Yes, the consistency changes, but it shouldn’t give you food poisoning. Egg products without a preservative can cause food poisoning sitting out for a relatively short time. When meat and cheese come out of a refrigerator cold for a sandwich, go into a back pack, then into a locker in a school that’s got air conditioning (we live in the desert), a sandwich isn’t going to go bad in just a few hours.
Just like the stupid, new lunch guidelines are one size fits all, so are the USDA guidelines. “Don’t eat it after x number of hours” doesn’t take into consideration temperature and conditions. I never bought fresh meat when I lived in the Philippines and in Tonga only from the German butcher with refrigeration. My husband and I had practically an hour conversation about a month ago about how long he could safely let a steak sit in a hotel fridge, or out without refrigeration and still eat it. There are so many variables- was it warm and never refrigerated? What’s the temperature of the hotel room? How many days has it been refrigerated? etc. The USDA says 3 hours, but if I leave a roast out 6 hours, take a slice and nuke it, I doubt I’ll get sick. Would I eat it cold? No. Chicken and fish are a different story. With them there is the 3 day rule, but in my house they don’t make it past day 2 1/2. From a nursing class on surviving nuclear warfare and length of meat edibility- pork roast lasts the longest, second is beef and chicken...not so much. My daughters lunches were ham sandwiches. LOL.