Beef passes school lunch safety test

Results from a new University of Connecticut (UConn) study show the National School Lunch Program’s strict safety standards work, which is good news for millions of children who participate in the program daily. The information was announced on the school’s news hub, UConn Today (today.uconn.edu). The study, led by researchers from UConn and USDA, found that the food safety standards for ground beef supplied to the program are highly effective in keeping harmful bacteria out of school lunches nationwide. However, ground beef that fails National School Lunch Program inspection can be sold to other vendors and eventually make its way onto consumers’ plates, says John Bovay, study coauthor and assistant professor in UConn’s Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics. That may help explain related data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. While there were no indications of foodborne Salmonella or E. coli illnesses from school lunches between the years of 2005 and 2014, there were 21 reported outbreaks of Salmonella and 58 outbreaks of E. coli from commercially sold ground beef during the same time period. Researchers examined the National School Lunch Program because of its critical nature. “This program is very important for child nutrition policy and as an anti-poverty measure because it provides many children with healthy, safe food, on a regular basis,” says Bovay. Researchers used a unique data set comprised of test results from mandatory food safety inspections for ground beef destined for the National School Lunch Program, and data from separate, random USDA inspections. — WLJ