From USA Today:
"McDonald's, Burger King and Costco, for instance, are far more rigorous in checking for bacteria and dangerous pathogens. They test the ground beef they buy five to 10 times more often than the USDA tests beef made for schools during a typical production day.
For chicken, the USDA has supplied schools with thousands of tons of meat from old birds that might otherwise go to compost or pet food. Called "spent hens" because they're past their egg-laying prime, the chickens don't pass muster with Colonel Sanders— KFC won't buy them — and they don't pass the soup test, either. The Campbell Soup Company says it stopped using them a decade ago based on "quality considerations.
We simply are not giving our kids in schools the same level of quality and safety as you get when you go to many fast-food restaurants."
References:
School Lunch Nutrition Worse Than Fast-Food, Says USA Today. NPR Health Blog.
Fast-food standards for meat top those for school lunches. USA Today.
"Kids only have 20 minutes to eat their lunches at school, so they'd automatically eat the sweet snacks first". CNN. http://goo.gl/yPxNQ
