Federal Guidelines: The nanny state that tells us what cars we should drive, what energy we must use and what health insurance we must have is now telling mothers what they can put in their children’s school lunches. We are all familiar with the Transportation Security Administration going through our stuff at the airport on the assumption all of us are potential terrorists. When a similar level of scrutiny is applied to our kids’ school lunches on the assumption we are too stupid to feed them properly, we wonder if there’s any place the nanny state will not reach to curtail our freedoms in the name of what’s good for us. On Jan. 30, a preschooler at West Hoke Elementary School in Raeford, N.C., had three chicken nuggets for lunch because a state employee told her the lunch her mother packed was not nutritious. The girl’s turkey and cheese sandwich, banana, potato chips and apple juice did not meet U.S. Department of Agriculture guidelines. After consuming the approved nuggets, she was sent home with her mom-packed lunch and a bill from the school for $1.25. The Division of Child Development and Early Education at the Department of Health and Human Services requires all lunches served in pre-kindergarten programs including in-home day-care centers to meet USDA guidelines. That means lunches must consist of one serving of meat, one serving of milk, one serving of grain, and two servings of fruit or vegetables, even if the lunches are brought from home. What’s been called the greatest generation was somehow able to defeat Imperial Japan, Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy after being raised on lunches their moms packed for them. This nation went to the moon without the federal government telling us what we and our children should eat. (Excerpt) Read more at news.investors.com …
