Packed Lunches Pose A Health Risk

If you're a parent of a child or teen, you or your spouse are likely the ones responsible packing your kid's lunches and placing them in a lunchbox or paper bag. New research from Texas indicates in a testing of more than 700 preschoolers' lunch packs, less than 2 percent of those temperature critical foods (meats, dairy and vegetables) were within a safe temperature zone. This, despite the fact that 45 percent of the packed lunches included an ice pack. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends perishable foods be kept cool and that any perishable foods that have reached 40 degrees Fahrenheit or higher for 2 or more hours not be consumed. After all, the latest stats from the CDC indicate that one in six Americans get food poisoning each year. Experts recommend including several ice packs with packed lunches and having perishables placed into a fridge once kids arrive at school to reduce the risk of food poisoning.