For years, meat purchased by the US government for school lunches was so low-grade that even McDonalds would not use it.

After significant media attention around this disturbing issue, the USDA announced new standards for meat provided to the National School Lunch Program. The new standards include more frequent testing and went into effect in July 2010.

However, there are still some remaining concerns. For example, there are several harmful strains of non-0157 E. Coli that remain unregulated. At least six out of thousands of unregulated non-0157 strains of E. Coli have been deemed harmful by experts. Annually, over 31,000 cases of illness, 294 hospitalizations, and 26 deaths have been attributed to one of these unregulated strains of bacteria. However, there may be hope on the horizon as the USDA's new undersecretary for food safety has pledged to take on this issue. See this recent article for more info.

Another concern is the vast supply of low-grade meat already purchased for the schools that is stored frozen and could last for months or years. This meat is the product of “spent” dairy cows and egg-laying hens and also may include veterinary drugs, chemicals, and heavy metals. Prior to the new USDA standards, fast food restaurant meat was subjected to bacteria testing 5 to 10 times more often than meat designated for the schools.

Another meat industry practice that is considered acceptable and saves the industry an untold sum of money is to sell meat tained with E. Coli strain 0157 as long as it is sold as pre-cooked meat products, such as frozen hamburger patties or meatballs.

Yet another remaining concern for school officials and parents, is the reported problem of tracing tainted meat from recalls to school systems. There has typically been a significant delay, thus putting the health of children at risk.

In 2008, the national lunch program fed 30.5 million children for approximately $2.68 per meal. The budget was $9.3 billion that year. Proposed for fiscal year 2011 is the $1 billion Child Nutrition Act. Although it proposes healthy standards and better quality foods, at 30.5 miilion children, $1 billion equates to about 26 cents per meal. Is it any wonder that the school system has to accept cheap, low-quality foods?

In addition to more stringent testing requirements that are more on par with those of private sector buyers of ground beef, the new USDA standards also specify that any meat vendor classified by the USDA's Food Safety Information Service as a having a long-term poor safety record will be considered ineligible as a vendor until a complete cause and effect analysis is completed. The new plan will require additional USDA man-hours and thus, will cost more money. It remains to be seen how effective these new requirements will be in ensuring safe food products for America's schoolchildren.

Check out the updated USA today article regarding this issue, as well as the USDA Press Release regarding the new standards.