1y ago

Consumer Reports urges USDA to remove Lunchables From National School Lunch Program

advocacy.consumerreports.org

Consumer Reports called on the Department of Agriculture today to remove Lunchables food kits from the National School Lunch Program. CR recently compared the nutritional profiles of two Lunchable kits served in schools and found they have even higher levels of sodium than the kits consumers can buy in the store. CR also tested 12 store-bought versions of Lunchables and similar kits and found several contained relatively high levels of lead and cadmium. All but one also tested positive for phthalates, chemicals found in plastic that have been linked to reproductive problems, diabetes, and certain cancers.

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1y ago

Consumer Reports tests find Lunchables and similar lunch kits contain relatively high levels of lead, cadmium and sodium; all but one contain harmful phthalates.

advocacy.consumerreports.org /press_release/consumer-reports-urges-usda-to-remove-lunchables-from-national-school-lunch-program/

56 comments

Man, what the fuck happened to LUNCH LADIES. Let them goddamn cook!
- what? paying someone an actual salary for actual work instead of just microwaving lead to kids?
  wont you think of the economy
  
  Please. It’s not lead.
  It’s salted lead.
  
  In California they're actually quitting to work in fast food, because the minimum wage doesn't affect govt workers.
  
  Entitled kids, don't they already get enough lead in school from their peers‽
- It's crazy. We had full kitchens in our elementary/middle school and high school. I can't remember them ever actually doing anything other than reheating precooked frozen food.
  
  my experience was closer to the opposite, elementary was always reheated packaged stuff and after that the quality improved a bit. I think the real problem is it seems pretty random if it's good or not
- They all got contracted out to companies like Alsco.
  
  Or God forbid Aramark
- Sloppy Joe?
  
  I made them extra schloppy for ya!
- I mean my kids school still has them.
I used to love lunchables, but now that I’m an adult, I can’t believe we were allowed to eat that trash.
- I'm in my 30s and I still love them. When I'm really sad I get one and it makes me feel like my life is simpler than it is and helps calm me down, gives me something to do with my hands while not requiring me to be functioning well enough to actually cook. They are trash though can't argue that lol
  
  Get a block of cheese, crackers, and some kind of lunch meat. Only tool you need is a knife. Plus, you can add variations, like tuna or cream cheese or whatever you want. You pay more up front but get more food out of it and reduce plastic waste.
- What was so good about them?
  
  Marketing, TV Ads got me as a kid. I feel bad for my mom cooking me real food and my kid self being brainwashed complaining about wanting corporate toxic waste Lunchables
  
  Finger food that wasn't messy and exploits the fact that kids haven't yet lost all their taste buds.
  Any kid between about 4-11 loves making little food stacks like that.
  
  They definitely cater the flavor profile to what a kid would like. There's no spice or offensive flavors, honestly kind of bland.
  I loved the pizza one as a kid. Tried it as an adult recently. It was delicious, but the sauce was so dang sweet!
  
  Easy prep. Granted, I grew up with a guy who fed us kids sleeve of saltines as a dinner because he couldn't be fucked to do more. Better than nothing but in hindsight, I think I can do better for my kids than fucking lunchables.
What? Lunchables are expensive as hell and have practically no nutrition!
Sounds like someone's palms were being greased to get them in schools.
No reason to be feeding that crap to our kids nationally.
- But some rich, white people need to get richer!
To be clear, this is a subset of the lunchables brand specifically manufactured and sent to schools for lunches, which has a higher sodium content than the retail variety you can buy. They don't want to ban all lunchables
- Ban them all, they slipped in poisons into future of USA citizens. Should be a class action lawsuit
- So, it's either the school-variant with high sodium, or the store variant with lead, cadmium, and phtalates, then?
  
  They did say "similar kits/products" implying it much not be lunchables, which feels an awful lot like a lawsuit waiting to happen.
- Considering the child obesity problem in America, maybe they should ban all Lunchables.
Fuck these Java 5 interface name having practically inedible crappy cracker packs.
I know its done to death but I really do blame Michelle Obama for how shitty school lunches have gotten. I dont know how the administration at the time got away with the enshittification of school lunches under the guise of nutrition. Some places were literally passing napkins off as vegetables because they are made of plant fibers.
- I believe you and would like to learn more. Do you have a link?
  
  https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ketchup_as_a_vegetable
  I remember reading an article on reddit a long time ago, but the closest thing I could find was the ketchup as a vegetable thing in my 5 minutes of google searching. If I find the original article I was referencing Ill put it in another reply.
- Would you have a source for this? Either the Obama influence or on the napkins?
  
  https://www.politico.com/agenda/story/2016/03/michelle-obama-healthy-eating-school-lunch-food-policy-000066/
  The napkin one is harder to find, still searching for it. This politico article explains it pretty well.

56 comments