Passage 2 Fast-food Standards for Meat Top Those for School Lunches 089
美國(guó)學(xué)校的午餐肉 《今日美國(guó)》
[00:02]Fast-food standards for meat top those for school lunches
[00:08]In the past three years,the government has provided the nation's schools with millions of pounds of beef
[00:14]and chicken that wouldn't meet the quality or safety standards of many fast-food restaurants,
[00:21]from Jack in the Box and other burger places to chicken chains such as KFC,
[00:27]a USA TODAY investigation found.
[00:31]The U.S. Department of Agriculture（USDA） says the meat it buys for the National School Lunch Program
[00:39]"meets or exceeds standards in commercial products."
[00:43]That isn't always the case. McDonald's, Burger King and Costco, for instance,
[00:50]are far more rigorous in checking for bacteria and dangerous pathogens.
[00:55]They test the ground beef they buy five to 10 times more often than the USDA tests beef
[01:03]made for schools during a typical production day.
[01:07]And the limits Jack in the Box and other big retailers set for certain bacteria in their burgers
[01:14]are up to 10 times stricter than what the USDA sets for school beef.
[01:21]For chicken, the USDA has supplied schools with thousands of tons of meat from old birds
[01:28]that might otherwise go to compost or pet food. Called "spent hens"
[01:34]because they're past their egg-laying prime, the chickens don't satisfy with Colonel Sanders-
[01:40]KFC won't buy them - and they don't pass the soup test, either.
[01:45]The Campbell Soup Company says it stopped using them a decade ago based on "quality considerations."
[01:54]"We simply are not giving our kids in schools the same level of quality and safety as you get
[02:01]when you go to many fast-food restaurants," says J. Glenn Morris,
[02:06]professor of medicine and director of the Emerging Pathogens Institute at the University of Florida,
[02:13]"We are not using those same standards."
[02:17]It wasn't supposed to be this way. In 2000, then-Agriculture secretary Dan Glickman directed the USDA
[02:27]to adopt "the highest standards" for school meat.
[02:31]He cited concerns that fast-food chains had tougher safety
[02:35]and quality requirements than those set by the USDA for schools,
[02:40]and he vowed that "the disparity would exist no more."
[02:45]Today, USDA rules for meat sent to schools remain more rigorous
[02:51]than the department's minimum safety requirements for meat sold at supermarkets.
[02:57]But those government rules have fallen behind the increasingly tough standards
[03:02]that have evolved among fast-food chains and more selective retailers.
[03:08]Morris, who used to run the USDA office that investigates food-borne illnesses,
[03:15]says the department's purchases of meat that doesn't satisfy higher-end commercial standards
[03:21]are especially worrisome because the meat goes to schools.
[03:26]It's not just that children are more vulnerable
[03:29]to food-borne illnesses because of their fledgling immune systems;
[03:34]it's also because there's less assurance that school cafeteria workers will cook the meat well enough
[03:40]to kill any pathogens that might slip through the USDA's less rigorous safety checks.
[03:49]USDA-purchased meat is donated to almost every school district in the country and served
[03:56]to 31 million students a day, 62% of whom qualify for free or reduced-price meals.
[04:04]President Obama noted earlier this year that, for many children,
[04:10]school lunches are "their most nutritious meal - sometimes their only meal - of the day."
[04:17]Next year, Congress will revisit the Child Nutrition Act, which governs the lunch program.
[04:24]"If there are higher quality and safety standards,the government should set them," says George Miller,
[04:31]chairman of the House Committee on Education and Labor.
[04:35]"Ensuring the safety of food in schools is something we'll look at closely."
[04:42]Officials with the Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS),
[04:47]the USDA agency that buys meat for the school lunch program,
[04:51]insist that schools get top-class products.
[04:55]AMS standards for meat sent to schools have been "
[05:00]extremely successful in protecting against food-borne pathogens,"
[05:05]AMS Administrator Rayne Pegg says in a written statement.
[05:10]She notes that AMS oversight, inspections and tests of that meat
[05:16]exceed those required for meat sold to the general public.
[05:21]The AMS also has a "zero-tolerance" policy that requires rejection of meat
[05:28]that tests positive for pathogens that can cause serious illness or death.
[05:33]Still, after USA TODAY presented USDA officials with its findings,
[05:40]Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack promised an independent review of testing requirements
[05:47]for ground beef that the AMS sends to schools. The review, set for next year,
[05:54]is meant "to ensure the food served to our school children
[05:58]is as safe as possible," Vilsack says in a statement.
[06:03]Tougher standards for school meat would better protect students,
[06:07]experts say. Today's AMS program "is a sort of snapshot of the way things were in (2000),
[06:16]whereas the industry has continued to clamp down," says James Marsden,
[06:21]a Kansas State University professor who advises the meat industry on safety.
[06:28]"It needs to be modernized."
[06:31]The AMS could "very easily" raise the standards for federally purchased school lunch meat,
[06:38]says Barry Carpenter, a former AMS official who helped set up the current sampling
[06:43]and testing requirements in 2000. "
[06:47]If I was still at AMS, I'd say, '
[06:51]Where are we (with today's rules) and where do we need to tighten them?' "
[06:56]Carpenter, now head of the National Meat Association,
[07:01]notes that raising AMS standards "wouldn't cost much,"
[07:05]and it would help combat perceptions that the school lunch program is "a market of last resort" for meat
[07:12]that can't meet with commercial buyers.
[07:16]That perception could be reinforced by the reality of how AMS makes its purchasing decision:
[07:24]Contracts go to the lowest qualified bidders. Orders are placed on a computer system
[07:31]that can be accessed by all of the agency's suppliers - those certified as able
[07:37]to meet the special sampling and testing requirements set for school lunch food.
[07:43]When an order is placed, suppliers enter bids into the system,
[07:48]and the computer automatically awards contracts to low bidders.
[07:54]Industry experts say tougher standards would not significantly add to the agency's costs for school meat.
[08:03]Theno says the safety requirements set by Jack in the Box added less than a penny a pound to its beef costs.
[08:12]Other big buyers outside the school program say it's a worthwhile investment in safety.
[08:20]"It's not about transactional cost; it's about value," says Justin Malvick,
[08:26]a vice president at Keystone,the McDonald's supplier.
[08:31]Carpenter says the meat industry that he now represents would have no problem with a decision to modernize -
[08:39]and toughen - AMS standards for school lunch meat.
[08:43]Most major beef suppliers and processors already have procedures in place
[08:49]to ensure that their products can satisfy the tougher sampling and testing requirements
[08:55]set by many commercial buyers, he adds. If the AMS followed, he says,
[09:02]"I don't think the industry would have any hindrance at all."
[09:07]Some lawmakers say a change is overdue. "Why are we even looking at giving (schools)food
[09:14]that wouldn't be accepted by a restaurant?," asks Carolyn McCarthy, "That's absolutely crazy."
