A North Carolina preschooler was given chicken nuggets for lunch when a state worker decided that the homemade lunch she had brought did not have enough nutritional value. The preschooler’s packed lunch, which consisted of a turkey and cheese sandwich, a banana, apple juice and potato chips, was deemed not to meet U.S. Department of Agriculture guidelines.
Regulations require that all lunches served in pre-kindergarten programs meet USDA guidelines. When home-packed lunches do not include all required items, child care providers must supplement them.
According to Fox8:
“The student’s mother... received a note from the school about the incident and was charged $1.25 for the cafeteria tray, from which her daughter ate three chicken nuggets ... The mother ... expressed concerns about school officials telling her daughter that she wasn’t ‘packing her lunch box properly.’”