Understanding of the Problem
Almost 25% of the U.S.A.’s children are obese and overweight. Cafeteria food is one of the definite causes of this. Cafeteria food is many times seen as unhealthy and disgusting. Even with all of the complaints to the school about the school cafeteria food principal’s and different board of education’s still refuse to get healthier food. The Westfield community is not pleased with the present cafeteria food arrangements. Most people understand that the cafeteria food is unhealthy and not very nutritious. This issue can spread to the whole entire nation. The nation is becoming fatter and fatter due to the lack of good nutrition. The cause of this bad nutrition is the government’s fault. One teacher from our school says, “Before the government came in the food was delicious and it tasted like real food.” The government needs to take action and give the schools more leniency on the rules. More fresh foods, such as fruits and vegetables, should be used now. There are policies and laws on cafeteria food. the problem with this is that the Westfield Board of Education will not give our schools a higher budget for fresher and healthier foods. With our budget now we are limited to buying frozen foods that we do not even know are safe to eat. The law is not well enforced because the man that runs the cafeteria is always at the other school and seldom at our school.
Some people try to defend by saying that the food is healthy. while the state tries to regulate the foods the issue is that the food is pre-packaged and then frozen. NBC is a huge supporter of changing cafeteria food for the better. According to NBC News: In New Jersey, at least seven students and a teacher fell ill with salmonella poisoning. This tells people that New Jersey is not keeping up to par with their school cafeteria food lunches. According to a professor hamburgers should be kept at least 140 degrees Fahrenheit, anything less than that will
end up growing a large amount of bacteria and can cause salmonella and/or illnesses. Food such as meat can only be safely consumed within a four hour period. Anything after this allotted amount of time is not safe and needs to be immediately thrown away. Schools also need to be spot on with the cleaning of the dishes/trays. even if a small piece of yesterday’s lunch is on the trays students can receive these harmful bacteria. One of the worst things that can happen with the cafeteria food is flies landing on the food. Some people question a flies ability to make a child sick which is totally ridiculous. Flies can very easily make a child sick by just landing on their food for a second! Salads and canned
fruits need to be kept at 40 degrees Fahrenheit or less. If schools keep these foods even just one degree over bacteria and parasites will grow on the food and harm students potentially making them sick. Furthermore, cafeteria workers should be doing daily checks for any holes in the walls. These holes are and open invitation for mice and rats to come by. The cafeteria workers at Edison Intermediate School are trustworthy but they are being forced by the government to cook frozen foods even if it is not their choice. Trying to make good tasting food from frozen packaged foods is extremely difficult. They try very hard to make these foods healthy and bake them instead of frying. The Westfield Board of Education needs to make decisions that will actually benefit the town and not harm it. Our goal is to make Westfield, New Jersey a safer and healthier place in terms of school cafeteria lunches. School lunches are not healthy and we need healthy and good tasting food to make our
nation not labeled as the ‘fattest’
country.
Some people try to defend by saying that the food is healthy. while the state tries to regulate the foods the issue is that the food is pre-packaged and then frozen. NBC is a huge supporter of changing cafeteria food for the better. According to NBC News: In New Jersey, at least seven students and a teacher fell ill with salmonella poisoning. This tells people that New Jersey is not keeping up to par with their school cafeteria food lunches. According to a professor hamburgers should be kept at least 140 degrees Fahrenheit, anything less than that will
end up growing a large amount of bacteria and can cause salmonella and/or illnesses. Food such as meat can only be safely consumed within a four hour period. Anything after this allotted amount of time is not safe and needs to be immediately thrown away. Schools also need to be spot on with the cleaning of the dishes/trays. even if a small piece of yesterday’s lunch is on the trays students can receive these harmful bacteria. One of the worst things that can happen with the cafeteria food is flies landing on the food. Some people question a flies ability to make a child sick which is totally ridiculous. Flies can very easily make a child sick by just landing on their food for a second! Salads and canned
fruits need to be kept at 40 degrees Fahrenheit or less. If schools keep these foods even just one degree over bacteria and parasites will grow on the food and harm students potentially making them sick. Furthermore, cafeteria workers should be doing daily checks for any holes in the walls. These holes are and open invitation for mice and rats to come by. The cafeteria workers at Edison Intermediate School are trustworthy but they are being forced by the government to cook frozen foods even if it is not their choice. Trying to make good tasting food from frozen packaged foods is extremely difficult. They try very hard to make these foods healthy and bake them instead of frying. The Westfield Board of Education needs to make decisions that will actually benefit the town and not harm it. Our goal is to make Westfield, New Jersey a safer and healthier place in terms of school cafeteria lunches. School lunches are not healthy and we need healthy and good tasting food to make our
nation not labeled as the ‘fattest’
country.