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(HealthNewsDigest.com) – It’s time, once again, to pack lunch for school or daycare. As parents, we want our kids to eat well and we strive to pack tasty, healthy foods to eat. We pay a lot of attention to what goes into the lunchbox, but do we pay enough attention to what happens to that lunchbox and how it is stored until lunchtime? Whether they are in backpacks, lockers, or cubbies, lunches from home often sit around for 3 to 4 hours before the lunch bell rings. They may not be safe.
This observation motivated researchers at the University of Texas-Austin to pose the question, “Do packed lunches meet recommendations for safe food temperatures?’ The answer they discovered was “no.” Though their study did not correlate illness with improperly handled lunches, their findings do suggest that lunches held at dangerous temperatures could lead to stomach upsets and more serious illnesses in children.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention showed that children younger than 4 have almost five times the risk of foodborne illness when compared to adults. Younger children have less developed immune systems and are more likely to get a bacterial infection. Most foodborne illness is unpleasant and debilitating but for young children it can turn serious. Properly packing and handling school lunches is one major step in avoiding bacterial growth.
It is estimated that of the 20 million children, under the age of 5 in the US, 63% are in regular child care situations. Approximately 50% of all daycare centers require parents to pack lunches. This puts parents in the first line of defense against foodborne illness. As parents, we can also encourage day care centers and schools to follow safe food handling practices.
Let’s start at home. Clean, separate, chill are the 3 watchwords to follow. Wash your hands before packing lunch and use clean cutting boards and containers to prepare and pack the food. This may sound like common sense, but the simple act of using your hand to block a sneeze and continuing to make lunch is enough to contaminate the food. Don’t use the knife you used to cut meat at dinner to slice a sandwich in half because it is still lying on the counter, wash it first. If you reuse tub margarine or other plastic food containers for lunch, wash and dry them thoroughly. Also remember to thoroughly clean out the lunchbox after each use to get rid of leftover food.
Separate. If you have cut up celery to go with cheese cubes and crackers, wash off the cutting board before cutting up the cheese. Cross contamination can spread bacteria from one food to another. Wash and blot dry whole fruits or vegetables that you are going to cut up for lunch.
Chill – this is the big one and there are many ways to keep foods cold till lunch.
The researchers found that over 95% of all the foods packed were at an unsafe temperature by lunch. And, nearly half of the lunchboxes contained an ice pack. Foods kept between 40o and 140o F are in the danger zone and bacteria can multiply to harmful levels.
Your goal is to send a cold lunch to school that can be maintained below 40o F till at least 2 hours before lunchtime. Foods do not have to be kept below 40o F till noon. Perishable foods can sit in the danger zone for up to 2 hours before the lunch becomes risky.
Chill down the lunchbox. A soft-sided, insulated bag is better than a metal lunchbox or a paper bag. If you pack lunch in the morning, put the lunchbox in the refrigerator overnight. If you pack lunch at night, put the food in the lunchbox and refrigerate both overnight. Use 2 small gel packs or one larger one. Freeze juice and milk boxes, or at least send them thoroughly chilled. This helps keep all the foods cooler. Use gel insulated containers, or containers with gel packs in the lids to keep items cooler longer. Store these in the freezer when not in use so they start out cold every day.
When lunch is stored at school, ideally it should be kept in a refrigerator. If one is not available you might encourage the school to purchase camper-sized coolers to store lunches till noon. This is a great parent association fund raiser that will cut down on sick days. If that isn’t possible make sure that lunches are not stored near radiators, in the sunlight, or in hot closed lockers. Though your child’s teacher may be wonderful, don’t assume they are experts in food safety, too. Many times when parents suggest safe food handling procedure, schools and teachers welcome the suggestions.
The simplest tip, but the most important – train kids to wash their hands or use hand sanitizer before eating lunch. Research shows that simple hand washing can cut illness in school aged kids by close to 25%.
For more information on safe food handling and activity sheets to teach children go to: FightBac.org
© NRH Nutrition Consultants, Inc.
Jo-Ann Heslin, MA, RD, CDN is a registered dietitian and the author of the nutrition counter series for Pocket Books with 12 current titles and sales of more than 8.5 million books. The books are widely available at your local or on-line bookseller.
Current titles include:
The Diabetes Counter, 4th Ed., 2011
The Protein Counter, 3rd Ed., 2011
The Calorie Counter, 5th Ed., 2010
The Ultimate Carbohydrate Counter, 3rd Ed., 2010
The Complete Food Counter, 3rd ed., 2009
The Fat Counter, 7th ed., 2009
The Healthy Wholefoods Counter, 2008
The Cholesterol Counter, 7th Ed., 2008
For more information on Jo-Ann and her books, go to TheNutritionExperts
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