Nanny State Lunchbox Inspections

When I heard about this originally a couple days ago, I was skeptical. I was figuring it seemed kind of far-fetched to be true. But the story persisted through a few different sources, so it caught my attention.

State officials inspecting lunchboxes for nutrition.

The above story takes place in North Carolina, specifically. Were it extreme circumstances, say, the kid showing signs of malnutrition, I'd support it. But policing kids' lunchboxes? Come on! Oh, and the unhealthy lunch being provided provided to this poor, malnourished kid by her negligent and uncaring parent/guardian: a turkey and cheese sandwich (meat, dairy, grains), a banana (fruit/vegetables), potato chips (kinda vegetables), and apple juice (more fruit/veggies!). As is the case with most kids, this one is kind of picky too, so her negligent and uncaring parent/guardian packs the food according to what she eats.

So, enter the state inspector, who says that her lunch does not meet nutritional guidelines (yes, that's guidelines, not law... yet). It seems unclear whether the lunch was actually taken away or not, as you can imagine the headline alone tends to ignite all sorts of anger and speculation. At any rate, it is clear however that the four year old girl was told her lunch wasn't nutritious enough. I read somewhere that the girl brought home the lunch, which means that it wasn't thrown away... but it may have been taken away during the lunch period, or the little girl may have been given the impression that she wasn't allowed to eat it. Keep in mind, this is a four year old we're talking about, and kids generally don't make these fine distinctions.

So, what do these heroic lunch box police do? They give her a cafeteria lunch and bill those darn dirty negligent and uncaring parents/guardians $1.25. What did this healthy and nutritious cafeteria lunch consist of? Apparently, the main part of it was chicken nuggets, of which the girl ate three. I dunno... I don't claim to be a doctor or nutritionist, but that turkey and cheese sandwich, potato chips, banana, and apple juice are sounding pretty good right now... especially in comparison to a few chicken nuggets.

Generally, if a parent cares enough to pack a lunch, they care enough to make it something relatively nutritious. And speaking as someone who vividly remembers what it's like to be a kid, I'll say that chances are, a packed lunch from home will taste much, much better than one the school would serve up, thus making it more likely the kid might actually... are you ready for this? You may want to sit down. Okay, continuing... making it more likely the kid might actually eat it.

Not too many kids praise the taste of school lunches, if you haven't noticed. This is for good reason - they suck. The quality is poor (for all you fast food haters, McDonald's has more strenuous quality and food safety standards). By the time of high school, I was ignoring school lunches pretty much entirely because of how bad they tasted, instead opting to get a bag of chips and a soda on most days.

Don't misunderstand - I'm not bashing the school lunch program as a whole, but I am discussing the relative merits of school lunch versus homemade lunch, and the stupidity of policing lunch boxes to replace their contents with a "more nutritious" school lunch. Yes, that has to stop... else, the nanny state mentality will grow, guidelines will become laws, and freedoms and liberties will be further eroded.