Bagged Lunch Could Lead To Food Poisoning, Study Finds

Brown-bagging has long been considered the quintessential method for school lunch since the days most parents roamed the halls themselves, but according to a new study published in the Journal of Pediatrics, how you go about packing it could make your child sick.

According to the University of Texas, a whopping 99% of the 700 box lunches belonging to preschoolers contained foods that were kept at unsafe temperatures. These significant results revealed an accommodating environment for bacteria to grow, ultimately the cause of food poisoning and other bacterial infection.

Dr. Nancy Snyderman, Chief Medical Editor for NBC, warns that foods should stay out of the "no-man zone", an unsafe temperature range warmer than 40 degrees Fahrenheit for cold foods and no less than 140 degrees Fahrenheit for hot foods. Any food that is kept in between this range for more than two hours is subject to contamination.

Surprisingly, 40% of the lunches involved in the study contained an ice pack to regulate temperature and failed, proving that the most efficient way of ensuring proper food safety of school lunches is by refrigeration -- doubling up on the ice packs could be a safe alternative.

Other recommended ways to ensure food safety are: packing non-perishable foods, including snap-peas and mixed nuts and skipping the questionable spreads such as mayonnaise on sandwiches.

Comments

[t77lenihan]

02:45 PM on 08/09/2011

My children must be super-human. They probably ingest bacteria every single day. I always thought that a little bacteria was good for the immune system, that's what Grandma always said. I figured she was right since all of us (and all our children) are rarely ill. We'll keep bagging our lunches because even with a little bacteria, they're much healthier than the hot lunch alternative at school.

[patg00]

02:27 PM on 08/09/2011

I wish i had government grants to prove things that worked okay for 100 years are wrong.

[John Lovrich]

02:00 PM on 08/09/2011

http://www.dressings-sauces.org/foodsafety_picnic.html

Commercial mayo is acidified and may actually help prevent spoilage.

[adamben]

01:00 PM on 08/09/2011

i found it amazing that with all of that bad bacteria no one gets sick. i guess natural selection left us pretty robust.

[Matte Kudasai]

12:00 PM on 08/09/2011

I, too, brown bagged to school the majority of the time. Every Monday was a sandwich made from Sunday's leftover fried chicken on rye with salad dressing and lettuce. Never had any problem.
I truly believe with the advent of anti bacterial soaps and hyper avoidance of any potential germs we have weakened our ability to adapt. The great irony of it all is that we are now more likely to become ill from the world around us than we were before.

[mattp123]

11:40 AM on 08/09/2011

this just in! everything that worked fine and was safe for years is no longer healthy!
why do scientists and researchers have to ruin tradition by over-analyzing everything?

[ctsspecialists]

12:39 PM on 08/09/2011

Because they don't have to work for a living. Way too much time on thier hands.

[charly tuna]

11:19 AM on 08/09/2011

First of all, mixed nuts are one of the most dangerous foods to give to preschoolers! Children needs to be watched closely when eating nuts because of the choking hazard involved. Secondly, I thought nuts were being banned from schools because of the danger of exposure to children with allergies???

If you're going to write an article entitled, "Bagged Lunch Could Lead To Food Poisoning, Study Finds", PLEASE include solid, definitive proof that this has actually happened. I get the feeling this story is meant to exonerate our First Lady from her botched and inconsistent influence in banning bagged lunches completely! I'm 59 and my entire school life from kindergarten to 12th grade was supplemented by bagged lunches. I never once got food poisoning or had health issues because I brought my lunch from home nor did my other 5 siblings or anyone else attending my schools. As a matter of fact, bagged lunches where always delicious, nutritious and besides that, buying lunch for six kids was way too expensive on a daily basis for my parents.

If a family cannot afford to send in a bagged lunch with their child and needs assistance in making sure their child receives a well-balanced meal, then certainly they should be offered school lunches, and breakfast for that matter. If you want to take candy and soda machines out of schools, that's reasonable. But leave bagged lunches alone! Regardless of what Michelle Obama thinks, parents DO know what's best for their children.

[caesarf]

12:18 PM on 08/10/2011

Michell O doesn't want to ban bagged lunches-this is a ludicrous and paranoid assertion.

[professoramy]

01:21 PM on 08/10/2011

Huh? Some quotes from Mrs. Obama, please.

[citygirl346]

11:16 AM on 08/09/2011

I have been bringing non-refridgerated lunch for as long as i can remember...i don't seem to have developed any serious diseases.

[laytonwa]

11:09 AM on 08/09/2011

Just another example of Uncle ASam's "nanny" beliefs. I took lunch to school on a regular basis as a kid, from about 1948 until I graduated in 1960. So did lots of other kids. Long before the ice pack was even thought of. Nobody got sick and certaily no one dies from home packed lunches. In fact lunches, coasts, boots and everything welse sat in the cloakroom until time for lunch. I am certain the temperature far exceeded what all the "brains" are now trying to tell us is unsafe. Just like the fiasco over whole milk. Drank it regularly, read three mels aday, until about 1965 when you could no longer get it becuase the government decided it wasn't good for us. I wonder why Uncle Sam didn't put an end to these type of things back during Revolutionary Times if this stuff is so bad for us. Get out of my kitchen, out of my refrigerator, and out of my life Uncle Sam.

[tygr49]

12:20 PM on 08/09/2011

It's just research, not a mandate.

[mountainez]

10:52 AM on 08/09/2011

In the forty's I brought my lunch in a paper bag everyday and it sat in the clockroom 'til lunch . In the spring the cheese was melted on my baloney and cheese sandwich. God they were so good! I, or anybody I ever new never got sick. Soon we will have no immune systems left!

[El Chingaso]

10:34 AM on 08/09/2011

We've become a nation...of p*ssi*s. On the other hand, lawyers have i*fe*ted the system, too.

[Risky Rich]

10:12 AM on 08/09/2011

I took bagged lunches to school, my kids did the same and now there is a problem. Nothing like a warm PB&J sandwich

[ontariogirl]

09:37 AM on 08/09/2011

So how come Spam can sit in a can on a shelf for years but you make a sandwich with it and its a recipe for disaster?

[snoogans460]

09:30 AM on 08/09/2011

Every school should find money in their budget to provide a refrigerator for each Homeroom Class. This way, all children and teachers could refrigerate their bagged lunches with the peace of mind knowing their food won't spoil.

Although it's been 14 years since I graduated High School, I can't even imagine making a lunch at 7 am, having the food sit in (potentially) warm climates (without refrigeration), and then finally eating everything 4-5 hours later. Argh, that's just asking for TROUBLE.

LOL @ all these folks who claim they "never got sick" from food poisoning as a youngster. Riiiiiight... keep believing this people. Just like when someone says washing your hands after using the bathroom ISN'T necessary - *rolls eyes*.

[reesi]

12:28 PM on 08/09/2011

I had my favorite swiss cheese and mayo sandwich all the time in the 1970's and I never got sick from it. Obviously, there are many out there who can report similar situations. So, you just stay unhappy and roll your eyes and we'll celebrate a happy childhood with perfect school attendance despite our "filthy" ways.

[ctsspecialists]

12:48 PM on 08/09/2011

A germaphobe, keep using all that antibacterial soap until all the bacteria around you is immune to it. You won't be!

[gardinerda]

09:30 AM on 08/09/2011

I gues I have defeated death MANY times! I went to school with egg salad sanwiches, Tuna, meatloaf, etc. sandwiches. sometimes made with mayo (of course) for all of the 12 years I was in school! Can you IMAGINE??? Maybe that was child abuse?