You may have caught my recent Today Show appearance discussing a shocking  study about the safety of kids’ home-packed lunches. The study published in Pediatricshad many parents concerned. Since you only get about 3 minutes on a TV segment, you don’t have much time for details, so I thought I’d take this opportunity to elaborate on the study and offer more simple solutions.


The Study
Researchers went into 9 Texas daycare centers and measured the temperatures of perishable foods from 235 lunches. They also recorded the number of ice packs that were used. The results were pretty startling.

- 39% of the lunches had no ice packs at all.
- 41% of the lunches had 1 ice pack.
- 12% of the lunches were stored in refrigerators.
- Only 1.6% of perishable food items were held at safe temperatures.
- 90% of the lunches were at unsafe temperature, even with multiple ice packs.


Keeping it Safe
The big picture: parents and school administrators need to make every effort to have children’s lunches chilled in a refrigerator when they arrive at school. If this is not possible, only pack foods that don’t require refrigeration. Here is a list of healthy, kid-friendly options that fit the bill.

- Whole fruit like apple, banana, orange, peach, plums, and berries.
- Applesauce.
- Dried fruit.
- 100% Juice boxes.
- Individual fruit cups.


Vegetables:
- Uncut veggies like snap peas, mini cucumbers, and cherry or grape tomatoes.
- Wasabi Peas.
- Freeze dried fruit or vegetables like from Just Tomatoes.


Protein:
- Single-serve cans or pouches of tuna or salmon.
- Nut butters: Peanut butter, soy nut butter, sunflower seed oil, or almond butter (as allowed by school).
- Nuts and seeds (as allowed by the school).


Dairy:
- Aseptically packaged  milk or soy milk.
- Individually wrapped hard cheeses like cheddar or Colby.


Grains:
- Whole grain cereal.
- Homemade trail mix with whole grain cereal, dried fruit, whole grain pretzels.
- Granola bars.
- Cereal bars.
- Whole Grain Crackers.
- Air popped popcorn.
- Instant Oatmeal Packets or Cups (if boiling water or microwave is available).

Safe Food Preparation Practices
Another important issue is making sure parents and caregivers who pack the lunch follow safe food safety practices. Here are a few tips to keep in mind:

- Wash your hands before handling food.
- Be sure to start with clean surfaces, cutting boards, and utensils.
- Avoid cross-contamination– make sure your raw chicken and beef stay far away from foods that don’t need to be cooked like fresh fruit and veggies. If you need to use the same surface to slice both foods, be sure to clean and sanitize the surfaces, cutting boards, utensils and hands between handling each food.

Keep food cold— prepare lunch the night before and place in the refrigerator so your child starts off with a cold lunch.

Click here to see my appearance on the Today Show.