You’ve probably heard about the North Carolina preschooler whose lunch was confiscated when government officials determined that it wasn’t up to the USDA’s standards for nutrition.
If you’re like most people, your first reaction was probably to wonder what the kid’s mother had packed in her lunchbox that failed to gain the approval of the government agent charged with inspecting the children’s lunches. If you’re like me, your first reaction was horror at learning of the existence of government agents who prowl the schools and inspect children’s lunches.
As one who detests the nanny state, I am bound to say that even if the child’s mother had filled her lunchbox with a can of Mountain Dew, two Ding Dongs, a bag of Cheez-Its, and a package of Gummi Worms, it’s still none of the government’s damn business. But for the record, the lunch that the government busybodies judged to be deficient in nutrition actually consisted of a turkey and cheese sandwich on whole wheat, a banana, and apple juice. That wasn’t good enough for them? A lot of mothers would be overjoyed if they could get their kids to consume a lunch as nutritious as that.
The school attended by this particular child has a policy that when a homemade lunch is judged to be inadequate, the child is given a meal from the school cafeteria, for which the child’s parents are then billed. As annoying as that is, the worst part of the whole ridiculous business is that children are being told that their own parents are too stupid to make them a decent lunch, or don’t love them enough to do so. And they are being told that Big Brother is not only smarter than their parents, but actually cares more about them than Mommy and Daddy do.
This is the nanny state at its very worst: undermining the relationships between parents and their children, weakening family bonds, and not-so-subtly indoctrinating impressionable kids with the idea that the omnipresent government is also omniscient.
bluebird of bitterness 
[…] at Bluebird Of Bitterness, bob takes on the food police in North Carolina and shows them for the dingbats they […]
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I’m like you, I’m with you. My son shuns fruit in this lunch or does even worse by taking one bit of an apple. So I make sure he gets his fruit with breakfast–orange slices, usually. How dare anyone assume they can do better, know better than the parents!
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Reblogged this on Citizen Tom and commented:
Here is another absurdly true story that has been making the rounds. Like the story of soldiers being ordered to pretend to be women, what it illustrates is the tendency people — particularly people who have no concept of honor — to abuse power. When we we elected a regime that promised to transform America, many had no idea what they were doing. Slowly — and not too late — I hope the truth of that election is dawning. Our government has no right to transform us. If we want to remain free, then we cannot allow our government to have that kind of power. When our government can transform us, it ceases to be our government. Instead, we belong to those who governed us.
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I keep wondering what they served in place of the lunch from home? My granddaughter only takes a lunch when she doesn’t like what is on the menu at school.
The other thing is this foolishness takes place under the Usda and many people think all that money goes to farmers. Little do we know.
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The replacement lunch was chicken nuggets. I think the big fuss was over the fact that the child didn’t bring milk. I believe it was also said that because it was only milk that was the issue they should have given her milk instead of forcing her to eat the school lunch. I guess the person checking the lunch didn’t realize that cheese is dairy.
My biggest issue with the whole thing is that there are so many reasons why the child had that lunch packed by the parents, such as allergies to food or total dislike for certain foods, and the school made a judgment call based on no facts other than what they saw in the bag. Could it be that they don’t want other children to be upset that she had lunch from home while they had to eat school lunches?
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It’s not about nutrition. It’s about control.
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