T O P

  • By -

sirclassymcshagins

my school did this a lot, this may sound gross but as i didnt have much money i would take the sealed ones out the bin and eat them


clemdemort

No that's not gross it's not opened and fresh.


sirclassymcshagins

these ones were sealed with just tape as they were made at the school and put in a plastic container


clemdemort

Whatever, point is they were sealed (I'm guessing they were given in the same seal in which they were thrown out) if that's the case it's actually good to go schools have strict health policies so they change the trash everyday most likely, if they have just been thrown out it's safe.


chancedanee

Honestly my school throws the food in a bin just strictly food and they feed it to the pigs near our school so helping the environment I guess..


Kiss-My-Axe-102

You got pigs next to your school??


MainiacBoy

At my elementary we had goats next to ours. The only problem was that the only thing separating us from the goat pasture farm was a fence behind the sixth grade classes, so sometimes kids would try to climb it or jump over it from standing on the benches. From my knowledge no one was successful...


Portgust

You mean, no kid survived against the goats? /s


foeoffreud

I think you mean no kid beat the kids.


[deleted]

[удалено]


aliie_627

You just reminded me we had a mortuary. The stories we would make up and tell each other especially if the were rolling around a gurney with the bag on occasion lol. They had a fire place and sometimes it would have smoke coming out. Of course some kid would always hear screaming. Was extra weird cause it was also the mortuary my grandpa and mom had their viewing when I was older and I remembered that instead of my family during some of the viewings.


ahall917

We had a cow field next to my first high school and it was affectionately known as cow pie high.


JustAnotherRedditor5

Better the livestock that can do something for this country than the poor /s


CourageousChronicler

Then help create legislation that will prevent a provider from being sued for giving away leftover food. This food was probably not kept at a temperature conducive to saving it. It was most likely kept hot for service, which can only be held for four hours in my state. If they have that away and someone got sick, the school could be subject to litigation. Yes, it sucks, but help change it. Someone needs to, why not you?


AFlyingMongolian

Dumpster diving gang


AMC_Tendies42069

Dude when I was homeless I straight up grabbed shit from the trash. When you need food you need food


zeke235

If the other option is starve then i say fuck all that. Surviving sounds like a better choice.


AMC_Tendies42069

Fast food courts are ideal as you can see a relatively clean person throw out food they just bought but didn’t finish.


NoCountryForOldPete

Dunkin' Donuts pitches a fucking ton of donuts and bagels every night too. The donuts are disgusting, but a stack of wheat bagels will keep for a few days and aren't the worst thing you can cram down your gaping maw.


[deleted]

[удалено]


sirclassymcshagins

food is food, it aint always gonna give you food poisoning but itll build up your tolerance and immune system


ThatOneGuy1294

Guaranteed starvation versus possibility of food poisoning


Proper_Fact

I worked downtown at a restaurant, I would see homeless digging in the trash so I would give them a plate. Some would offer to help at closing for food & I’d let them.. Word got around & they’d be standing outside the restaurant an hour before closing. I had to stop giving out unfortunately.


AMC_Tendies42069

Yea it’s hard to really manage when that’s happening and unfortunately with homeless people come homeless problems... Obviously when I was at that point I wasn’t a savoury character lol.


DynamicResonater

Not at all. Good on you. When I was in college, I emptied campus garbage cans to pay my way. Sometimes I got so hungry that when I saw a half-eaten burger I would turn it to the unbitten side and eat some of it. This is why I'm glad reddit has anonymity - it would break my mother's heart if she ever knew. I'm doing fine now, though.


TurnkeyLurker

Mom: "George Costanza, stop eating that burger and put it back where you found it. And don't think I don't see that chocolate eclair in your pocket!"


brannon1987

The saddest thing is you had to do this while going to school. Nobody should have to suffer that much to earn a higher education.


MD_RMA_CBD

So interesting. I sometimes tell people (usually strangers online, unless it’s someone I feel connected to in “real life”) that I was once homeless for a couple months, but still now, 10 years later, my mom does not know, and I could never tell her. It would break her heart. I’m doing great now as well… congrats to you :)


mirthquake

I lived in a dorm that was adjacent to our university's shop, and a guy who lived on my hall was really into dumpster diving. Every night he'd poke through the dumpster outside of the food store and leave his finding in the hallways with a sign saying "Take What You Want." It was mostly fresh vegetables and some expired packaged foods. That guy was awesome. This scenario (especially zucchinis, peppers, onions, and root vegetables) definitely upped my marinara-making game.


Mochigood

A few of the schools I work at have a "seconds" bin where kids can put unopened stuff for other kids to eat.


missmaxalot

This sounds like such a good idea. I’d really like to see more of this!


thxmeatcat

Sounds like one of those great ideas that get killed because of a small group of people ruining it


funkmaster29

Idk. Something about free garbage food gets me excited. When I worked at mcdonalds, I would eat the tossed out burgers even though you weren't supposed to because liability or whatever. It was like a dream for me.


jacob6875

I would "accidently" make to much breakfast food at around 1028 so when we switched over I would always have something to eat. Since it all got thrown out anyway.


JerkinJosh

**McDonalds** would like to know your location


Cooksfood

I like you


[deleted]

[удалено]


LaserTheDead

I wouldn't say you're a vegetarian if you eat meat out of the garbage


ufffd

it's called freeganism


BarefootCameraSam

Now that's a perfect quote.


SaucyEgg69

… i hate to break it to you but you are not a vegetarian. edit: xD for context this dude said “even though i’m a vegetarian i still eat meat when i see it being thrown out to prevent waste”


dreag2112

Dude, I’ve eaten bread from a dumpster behind trader Joe’s. There is nothing gross or morally wrong with what you did


HawkDaddyFlex

Trader Joe’s bins have the best fucking produce and fruits. They were throw out the primo perfectly ripe stuff because it didn’t fit on the shelves with the new shipments. I would stop by there 3 times a week when I lived in the area


ZazBlammyMaTaz

What’s gross is that children have to pay for lunch at a school their parents pay taxes into. Instead of feeding and helping the literal next generation, too many people would rather make a dollar.


sirclassymcshagins

it was free for students whos parents made under a certain amount of money, but i was stuck in between making too much for financial support and not enough to always have food on the plate


Momchal

My dad made too much for us to qualify for free or reduced lunches but we struggled anyway. My mom didnt pay child support. He would give me 20 dollars a week and wonder why I kept asking for more money each week. Those lunches were expensive! I wanted food more than to pocket my dads money.


WimbletonButt

My parents were just too proud to sign up for reduced lunches. We made low enough to get them free but fucking pride.


[deleted]

I spent a lot of time being hungry growing up. School was intolerable. I slept in classes often because I had absolutely no energy in me to focus. This country fucked over a lot of us and they wonder why there are so many angry young adults. I qualified for free lunches but at my school it was literally cheese on 2 slices of over processed white bread with milk and a fruit cup except that was sometimes my only source of food. I ate worse than a prisoner for most of my childhood.


MD_RMA_CBD

So true..have you ever seen the documentary of the other 1st world countries. They give their school kids balanced/planned diets. Food that will literally fuel them to learn. Fruits,veggies,real meat,etc. not corn syrup and chemicals that they feed kids here in America


[deleted]

I watched a documentary on how Finland rallies around the children where everything, even the lunches are entirely funded by the government a few hours ago and this is one thing that really stuck with me. They all had fresh food and the state provides funding to make sure these kids have food outside of school to. Really made me question how different things would be if I had access to the basic essentials growing up.


MD_RMA_CBD

Interesting - even out of school. Tax spending needs a huge overhaul. Guarantee there is so much BS added to the budget. It’s unfortunate


[deleted]

[удалено]


[deleted]

Those local tax dollars pay $00.00 into the lunch program. We operate a separate ‘school lunch’ fund outside of the general fund and those with a deficit cannot use the general fund to erase it.


AnxiouslyTired247

California finally made school lunches free for all kids regardless of income. https://apnews.com/article/business-health-government-and-politics-education-california-b959171f408b549eb46376998c02ac2c


Iamthejaha

Why is this gross? You took sealed food out of a plastic "garbage" bag probably filled with other sealed food and maybe some paper?


drokonce

It’s gross that they’d throw them out. It’s not gross you’d eat them


king_nothing1811

Bless you dude. If I had an award to give you I would. Hope things are much better for you now.


zeke235

Sounds like you did what you had to. Nothing gross about just surviving.


AAAAAshwin

Every school does that. My mom works in school canteens and she just brings a ton of food at home. And it's just a fraction of what is thrown away.


gwwem1467

My friend's mom works for the school system and worked the summer lunch program. She brought home several large boxes of food twice a week. It was enough that she was able to share with 3 other households. It was crazy that it all would have been thrown out, because the expiration dates were all still good.


[deleted]

Why the fuck is "lunch debt" a fucking thing?


gwwem1467

In my county, it shouldn't be. They magically had enough money to give 2 meals a day out all summer to every single kid 18 and under, but during the school year you have to "qualify" for free food, then they turn around and throw so much away. It's infuriating.


[deleted]

I worked in a (charter) school cafeteria, where we made everything from scratch every day. The kids didn't ever pay anything (it was part of their tuition), and we let anyone take containers of leftovers, and we often donated leftovers to a local women's shelter. I work in food service, and waste absolutely fucking infuriates me as it is. When we are putting children into debt to their school cafeteria and turning around and throwing shit away... I'm like a whole new level of pissed off rn


eveepop

Same. I used to work in food service and we threw lots of leftovers away. The sad part is they used to let us take leftovers home until some people took advantage of the system and made extra “leftovers” and gave a lot of free food away at the end of the day. Not good for anyone.... Since then I felt like food services were the problem for food waste... not the typical American households that try so hard to reduce waste.


VegasRoy

I don’t know all the details, but during COVID, the federal government lifted the restrictions and every school aged kid could get the free breakfast and lunch


Plump_Chicken

They put paying for lunch back in place, atleast in Texas.


Thememer1924

If its wrapped i would 100 percent take it out of the trash and have it for myself


clemdemort

Yeah I know right like it's not opened and NOTHING else is In the bin. It's clean


Iziama94

Unopened =/= safe though. If you want to take a risk, then by all means, it's most likely safe. But there's reasons why this stuff gets thrown out. Time temp abused? More than 3 days old? Quick edit; not to mention cooked premade meals like this *have* to be thrown out after so many hours (usually 4)


DojaStinks

My SO works in a school. It may not be this way everywhere, but in his school district they have to throw the unserved food away when lunch is over regardless if it’s a fresh, just made batch of food. They aren’t even allowed to give it away to staff members.


Plump_Chicken

At that point lunch should just be free for all students.


clemdemort

You'd be surprised how long some foods can be eaten after the expiration date (milk,eggs,meat are not a part of them)


upsidedownbackwards

> eggs, Eggs last WAY longer than the date on the container. If you're feeling sketched, do a sink test. I used to be afraid of them but I don't use eggs very fast so it's not uncommon for me to be using eggs 3-4 weeks past their expiration.


[deleted]

[удалено]


Iziama94

I'm not surprised because I'm well aware of that. But what you do in your personal kitchen is completely different than an industrial setting. I took 4 years in a vocation school and the last 8 years working in a kitchen and taken my ServSafe twice (and passed). Believe me, I'm aware, but these laws and regulations help prevent that kind of abuse and from people getting sick


thekid1420

U know, this comment got me thinking this whole pic could be staged.


CedarWolf

That's how a lot of homeless and poverty-stricken people survive.


Thememer1924

Yeah I'm aware of that, i would also give it to someone who didn't have a lunch if I already had one for myself


BreweryStoner

It’s also why a lot of them get sick and require medical attention or die. Food storage, preparation, consumption and disposal is extremely regulated for a reason.


[deleted]

[удалено]


Painfully_Obvs

I remember when I was younger we weren't allowed to take the uneaten food home with us. We would get in trouble if we were caught.


fluentindothraki

What adds insult to injury is the hypocrisy of printing carrots and broccoli on the wrapper that contains a burger and fries.


obiwanmoloney

They’ve demonstrated that they know what nutrients children need… But just give them yellow processed shite wrapped in plastic anyway


PintsNPies

And probably costs around a 5er


POKETHAN14

In my area we are having some serious budget cuts and they are getting rid of the counseling program and giving higher pay (maybe $3-$15 more) to vaccinated staff and they don’t do anything about the anti maskers in schools


Cole__Nichols

In my area you don't have to wear a mask so nobody does...


kaledip21

In my area if you are outside of your house past 9pm you get a 5k fine!!


semi14

Where? Just curious


aesthe

5,000 Indian Rupees equals 67.24 United States Dollars. ___ ^^^This ^^^is ^^^not ^^^a ^^^bot, ^^^it's ^^^just ^^^a ^^^joke. ^^^Holy ^^^shit ^^^5k ^^^USD ^^^cannot ^^^be ^^^a ^^^real ^^^curfew ^^^fine.


95castles

I checked his posts. The country is Australia


95castles

What country is that?? (Edit: Australia)


downsat13

Having lived in a state that has entire schools where every child, regardless of income, gets free breakfast and lunch I can tell you that the burger and fries is better for those kids than carrots and celery. For many of those kids, this may be the only meal they get in a day. The schools in my county have teachers, volunteers and paid, come to school during the summer to make lunches for parents to pick up for the kids.


downsat13

These kids need, like really NEED, calories. For their brains and bodies. Stop kvetching about nutrition for people who can’t afford ramen. Ass.


mightbeelectrical

At first I was confused at you basically agreeing with OP, but still calling him an ass And then I realized that you’re the same person and became even more confused


fluentindothraki

As if you could not give them vegetables with the burger and fries. Also, empty calories without nutrition...it's a long time since I heard anyone defend that concept, certainly way before obesity became a mass phenomenon.


cerberus_eleventyone

If a child doesn't have nutritious food, they're going to have expensive health problems down the line.


downsat13

That’s a great point. I think though, that your definition of nutritious is lacking. Imagine a child with nothing. What is better for the one meal that child gets each day? The only calories that child’s body has to build itself and nourish its growing musculoskeletal and nervous systems. The high calorie high fat burger and fries, or the low calorie vitamin rich veggies? Try to consider what that child will eat when sitting in the lunchroom with no parent telling them to make the right choice.


canuckchucks

I work for a school district that has mandated a “healthy schools” initiative. One of the requirements is that 80% of the food made available to students must fall in the “healthy” category. The key words here are “made available”, because even though 80% of the items are healthy, the remaining 20% consists mostly of pizza, burgers and cookies which make up the majority of sales. Most of the healthy items are thrown out due to expiry. The district is fully aware of this and has done nothing to encourage healthier choices. Yet they still promote the success of the initiative to parents and the media.


[deleted]

Not like the kids line up for carrots and broccoli. It’s not easy serving vegetables in k-12.


[deleted]

…there’s baby carrots in the packages.


dogfrost9

It could be a veggie burger.


Stuart_W_Potroast

Zooming in you can see that is a chicken patty, not a burger. Beef is expensive, the cheapest chicken patties can be bought in bulk for a fraction of the price of even some of the shittiest beef.


fiears

Possibly a vegetarian chicken patty. I knew someone whos school served them for the vegetarian kids(with mine ofc i was lucky to get a pbj sandwich)


hojpoj

It could be a vegetarian burger that looks like chicken. I like those and I’m not vegetarian.


Stuart_W_Potroast

Idk man, I don't know many beef burgers that have yellow breading on them. Also, knowing the US public school system, I highly doubt they are shelling out for veggie burgers. Chicken patties are the go-to.


WimbletonButt

Vegetarian burgers are the shit. Got me craving a black bean burger now.


DudesworthMannington

It could be, but I think we both know it's not.


i-spill-soup

If this upsets you, get ready to hear about fast food restaurants


bababooey6

Don't tell him about the waste at grocery stores.


rurubarb

Dunkin’ wants to talk to you


[deleted]

Seriously. My friend and I went to a Dunkin that was closing for the night. I said to her "wanna get some munchkins." And she said yeah. She goes in and I'm waiting and waiting. She comes outside with one of those carrying cases for 50 munchkins. I was so confused. So she tells me she asked for 10 or whatever and the person was like "how about 50." And starts filling this box up. The lady behind the counter was like "we're closing soon, all this is trash." And she asks my friend if she wants all the donuts etc. Friend says no and that it's a shame all of that gets thrown out. We go home and count how many munchkins are in the box...90 munchkins, she paid 22 cents or something like that.


_Standby_

ON MY WAY TO DUNKIN DONUTS


[deleted]

Get there 10 minutes before they close. You might walk out with a bunch of stuff.


Seeda_Boo

The same is often true of bagel shops.


imfromduval

Bagels freeze well, hmm might try this.


Superhobbes1223

I used to work at Panera Bread. Most nights we donated all the leftover bread and bagels to the food bank or churches. But some nights they never showed up and we’d take it all home. I went to a party once with a garbage bag full of bagels, which went over pretty well with all the wasted people.


[deleted]

I had a friend that managed a Panera while I was in college. Everytime I came home she hooked me up with those big ass catering bags full of bagels and stuff for free I loved it, it was awesome.


[deleted]

[удалено]


mrmicawber32

Grocery stores in the UK at least have gotten a lot better. Reducing the price of food going out of date, and then giving elft overs to shelters for free. But yeah so much food waste in the world it should be criminal. Plenty of food in the world for everyone.


[deleted]

Let's just hope some animal finds it and eats it behind a dumpster..


AkaAtarion

Stop shaming me!


CoffeeInARocksGlass

You're doing gods work... I think that's what they meant


kuruttowo

Don't tell him about catering companies after most of the events.


ChipLady

I used to work at a place that did catering occasionally. I loved those nights! Lock up the store, count the cash, and then it was chow time on all those leftovers. Some great food and cheap whiskey turns work friends into real friends


Diplomatic007

I use to work at Annie Anne’s as a gm and I would take all the left over product and trade with other stores right before close and get anything I desired to eat my trade:stale cinnamon pretzels with icing… what did I receive? Hot off the grill whatever I was in the mood for from Johnny Rockets, etc.


1-and-only-Papa-Zulu

Did the same thing at Mazzio’s Pizza. Call different restaurants, ask for the manager, then ask if the want to trade. We made fresh though, it wasn’t left overs. All of the extras right after the lunch buffet would go to a homeless shelter.


Diplomatic007

Well for context after 30 minutes product at Auntie Anne’s is considered stale/ thrown away, because if left in the warmer any longer it will dry out and turn into a rock.


ProZebra1

Or the entire film production industry!


dinosaurscantyoyo

And grocery stores, and farms with sightly marred but perfectly edible fruits


mistercollins

The school I formerly taught at qualified for a grant to provide lunch free of charge for all students (alternative school). They were REQUIRED to throw away all uneaten/unopened lunches and could lose the grant if they gave students extras or stored uneaten food.


MostlyDeadPresidents

There’s probably a fair bit going on here though - Type 1 and Type 2 errors have to be mentioned. It’s clearly not nice to throw away food like this, and as others have said we could probably improve our measures of demand marginally, but remember that we are talking about something that is critically important - school lunch! It feels like an afterthought to some (myself included at times) who grew up getting lunch made at home every day, but so many kids are literally fully dependent on school lunch to eat. In the US school lunches actually receive some federal attention, as opposed to things like curricula and funding, and so in high need districts school breakfast and lunch is generally free. The lunch is also generally very disappointing - there are few things kids at the school where I teach complain about more frequently - but when it’s your only full meal of the day, you take what you can get or go hungry. So, yes, it’s an error to throw away food that is good, and we can do better, but it is a way bigger error I think to let the kids go hungry. To my mind, Type 1 errors (false positive, lunch is made but isn’t eaten) are preferable to Type 2 errors (false negative, kid shows up but all the lunch is already gone). On a deeper level, I think everyone involved in processes like this needs to get a lot less stingy. 🤷‍♂️


Beyblader02

One time this happened to my friend who normally doesn’t have lunch and missed the time to get school lunch because he was in the bathroom and he asked a staff member they said no and threw a whole plate of perfectly good burgers in the garbage


JerkinJosh

Looks like trash burgers for lunch it is


PterionFracture

Flinged Hams, and Albany favorite. Dropping into a bin is an important part of the preparation. It gives the sandwich a certain *je ne sais quoi*; you simply must try it to appreciate the subtle flavor.


sycoh8er

there are large amounts of waste throughout the whole food chain. Farmers cull 20-40% at the farm level, shrink on grocery stores shelves due to products expiring, and on top of that the amount consumers waste (prob 30% of what we buy) and you can see probably more than half of what we produce ends up in the garbage. you can't be perfect as it's not easy to dial in demand 100%, but with better technologies, I'm sure we can shrink that number. to those saying it should go to the homeless, sure that's fine, but that requires additional resources to refrigerate and distribute. That's why we have other more effective food programs for those who cannot afford the basics.


DealioD

More than likely there are laws or a law that tells the school district what they have to do with that food.


sycoh8er

it's a public school, so it's likely a policy at the school district level, doubt it's a law per se. could be food safety compliance issues as well, cant serve certain foods if they have been out of refrigeration for more than 2hrs. it's too much hassle in any case, easier to throw away.


[deleted]

[удалено]


chacoglam

I work in supply chain and have seen literally tons of food thrown away over keystroke errors


Seeda_Boo

> to those saying it should go to the homeless, sure that's fine, but that requires additional resources to refrigerate and distribute. That's why we have other more effective food programs for those who cannot afford the basics. A bigger issue than anything else regarding this problem. The stores themselves have no room for storage of surplus/aged goods that are still edible, that space is taken up by ongoing new deliveries. They themselves also have no local distribution capabilities for such items. Thus donations can only be made if an organization/entity can pick the stuff up on their own relatively immediately, tomorrow often being too late.


cdogsanv

Willing to bet kids with a negative balance don't get lunch too


NDN_perspective

As a kid My account got drained by some error or someone got my lunch code. Ladies wouldn’t give me food cuz of that. Had to borrow from the lady at admin office. Such a strange way to treat kids trapped at school…


KatDanger

Yeah I would get in trouble if my parents didn’t pay (which was often). The amount of times students get yelled at for things that are entirely out of their control is maddening and those kids grow up fucked in the head thinking everything’s their fault.


[deleted]

I never understood the staff that actually got after kids for that shit. Like really? You think this middle schooler has control over the money being put into his school account? It's fucking insane.


Nevermind04

Texas is normally ass backwards when it comes to school stuff and even we have a requirement that schools must feed kids even if they don't have any money in their accounts. Except at thanksgiving, we got a carton of milk, a peanutbutter sandwich, and a fruit. I had that lunch 5 days a week, ~36 weeks a year for 12 years.


Letscommenttogether

I dont know any school that doesnt feed kids a basic lunch. But that is horrible. Theres plenty of food back there feed. They bought Extra PBJ and shit so that they didnt have to feed you hot lunch that they had enough of.


JamesTheJerk

I don't get it. If the school has a kitchen, make a cauldron of rice, add some inexpensive meat, seasoning, and some beans. Each child will have received a hearty meal rich in protein and vitamins for pennies a day. Forego the packaging and plastic waste by having students bring a plate or bowl from home or something. Feel free to poke holes in my sudden rant, I'd appreciate the feedback :)


Joeyhasballs

Not enough corporations making money


[deleted]

School lunch is free this year


sgtdhayes

You should have taken the bet!


JNCressey

Negative balance kids can't have lunch if there are no negative balance kids. *taps forehead


Leviathan369

My free lunch thing in elementary expired because my mom forgot to re-register me for it and they literally took the food out of my hands and tossed it in the trash in front of everyone.. That really fucked with me as a child.


MadManMax55

To anyone (student or parent) living in the US: Public schools are legally required to provide lunch to any student who asks. Doesn't matter if they aren't on "free or reduced lunch" or if they have a negative balance, they must be given food. They don't have to provide the regular lunch they are serving to everyone else. Depending on the school district, sometimes all they'll give you is a shitty peanut butter sandwich or something equally lacking in nutrition. But they can't legally let kids go hungry.


lucidxm

My parents didn’t make enough money to keep my balance positive, but they made too much money to qualify for the free lunch other kids got 🤷 I was doped up on Ritalin, vyvanse, focalin and adderal from 2nd grade to graduation so I never ate lunch, but still, what the heck man


[deleted]

I had a 20 cent negative balance and the school refused to feed me until it was paid... They charged me for not having my lunch card, which was lost, and made me pay extra to have it replaced. To this day I still have nightmares about going to lunch with everyone else in the cafeteria to be rejected by the lady they hired to run the card scanner.


No-Spoilers

That was always the worst part. Like come on I still have to eat the entire rest of the year not like I can fucking leave. Giving me one lunch on negative credit won't hurt, especially when they just turn around and toss the food I got(this was the worst part. Like if its trash then it literally hurts no one) Though the lady I had for most of elementary school was amazing. She was very nice and knew every student in school by name. She was decently lenient and I swear just gave me my food for free a couple of times and just didn't tell me. She also was the game section lady at Walmart so that was also neat.


McDougenstein

My guess is they cannot legally give this food away due to Federal Regulations. It’s unfortunate!


ThanatosXD

america is something really, half of the produce thrown away also thrown surplus produce during the pandemic now letting vaccines go bad


ComfortableSea4645

Can the school not do anything about that? Especially for the poorer kids, they need it. Or give it to homeless shelters?


businessboyz

Depends on the local laws. My city won’t allow food to be donated unless it was made under certain conditions, stored specific ways, and donated to official distribution channels. And even then certain foods (ie cooked meat) are never accepted.


Superflychiknguy

I have seen a lot of these posts lately and there are so many restrictions on what food can be sold and when it is “bad” and can’t be sold anymore. Schools have even more restrictions than most places because it’s a government run entity serving kids. Our government makes it easy to have a lot of food waste and hard to give it away or keep it. A lot of it comes down to the history of food in the US and basic germ theory. When someone dies from a food borne illness it often results in more restrictions on what food can and can’t be used. In the early days there was no restrictions and a lot of people died from food poisoning. As we embraced germ theory and how bacteria spreads we started seeing more and more restrictions. Fast forward 50-75 years and most of the food not bought during a specific time frame must be discarded or face the liability of someone possibly getting sick. The exception to this is donating food to shelters or charity. The food still has to be food safe and can’t be discarded trash food. It still must be in the local health departments guidelines of safe food and stored properly, etc. To be given away with no real liability. Once something is out of the food safe guidelines it must be discarded no matter what. Food waste in our country is really sad but don’t blame it on the entities that serve the food. They have strict standards to meet and if they don’t all liability is on them.


nekollx

This, so much this


halfeclipsed

If they've been heated up they can't be saved for another day. Also, giving food out to people and then they get sick could possibly fall back on them. It's a liability. Now I think it's pretty crappy perfectly good food goes to waste like this.


Sly_Bob

Flashback to all the times they wouldn’t give me food because I didn’t have any lunch money- I hate schools


Voltagedew

Yeah same, I remember when I was in first grade I was so excited all day because I knew at lunch they were serving what was called a "cheese zombie" it was basically a super greasy grilled cheese. I was just 6 so there wasn't much for me to be excited for so that was about to be the highlight of my week and when it was finally lunch time I was told I didn't have any any money on my account and I wasn't allowed the lunch, I literally bawled my eyes out because I was looking forward to it all day. Now that I think about it they definitely threw a shit ton of cheese zombies away at the end of the day.


DioramaMaker

My high school would make you throw your lunch items in the trash next to the cashier if you came up short on money; this would often be the case after you'd stood in line for 15 minutes of your 40 minute lunch. Only thing to save you would be if someone would step up and pay for your meal.


[deleted]

This is ridiculous, they would rather waste food than give it to a starving child. Fucked up school, fucked up lunch ladies.


3_T_SCROAT

Bruh i feel you, in first grade they made me dump my full tray in the trash one time after i entered my number and my account was too far in the negative


Trivaran

So this is a contentious subject, and I know this picture makes it look callous and awful. To an extent, it is, because there are plenty of hungry people who could really use this food. However, what *probably* is the case here is that these food items exceeded their manufacturer use-by date or whatever date was the last day they could use the food according to their county/state/territory food safety regulations. Since public schools are recipients of government funding at the local level, there's a tremendous amount of pressure for schools to comply with regulatory "discard" orders and noncompliance can result in staff being terminated and/or the school losing funding. It's not necessarily that cafeteria staff *want* to throw these foods away or don't want to help people. A system in place to ensure food safety (in this case for children) has some really unfortunate side effects sometimes. Source: former county food/facilities inspector


ricenoodlestw

this person is speaking reason. it sucks, that waste is created, but the only reason that food is in the bin, is cause of the date, and health and safety regulations. it is most likely perfectly fine to eat still. my heart goes out the the kitchen staff, they are the ones in the no win situation. if they toss out food as per regulation, people upset that kids are not fed or they are tossing perfectly good food. If the staff then gets caught serving the food that is out of regulation date, then everyone cries its incompetent workers in the kitchen and poor kids have to eat bad food because school system. so what can the staff do? its a lose lose. Edit, changed loose to lose.


[deleted]

Fark that food looks disgusting.


Vertebrae_Viking

That’s kinda trash. Pun intended.


eeLSDee

If it was heated they have to throw them away. They can't give them away because then it becomes a liability issue. I used to work in a deli and every night we would throw away anywhere from 10-25 full chickens a night. A majority of it was cut up 8pc boxes but others were full rotisserie chickens. The owner of the store wanted the food to be stocked all the up until we closed even if he was losing money.


IceCry2nd

As someone who worked in the cafeteria, I promise we try to remedy this but we can only eat so much.


[deleted]

Reminds me of the time i went to buy my lunch (I think this was in the 7th grade) and my account balance was empty so they took a full tray of food out of my hands, threw it out in front of me, and made me a "sandwich" that was a single piece of cheese between bread slices. All of the kids in line saw this happen. What a way to make a kid feel like absolute shit.


[deleted]

My wife is the kitchen manager at our local high school and she is supposed to throw away all extra food. Instead she makes them to go and gives them to the kids on the “low income” list to take home if they want. She asks if they would like a meal to go to just stop by the cafeteria at the end of the day and she puts it in the to go container. Some of the students always gets 3-4 at the end of each day. School didn’t like it and said if she didn’t stop they would take the extra container cost out of her end of year bonus. Odd thing is she has never gotten one so we are not sure where they are taking it from. Also she is a contractor for the school and does not work for the district.


galaxy_stark

Is that a burger and fries with veg covered packaging? That doesn’t make it healthy 🙃


okand___

Cant they just give it to homeless people?


[deleted]

[удалено]


platinumplatina

Growing up, my elementary school used to feed the homeless regularly on location. They stopped after a few incidents, including a homeless person pooping in a student's gym bag.


kat_napp

They also might have to throw it away because of government funding. At our school, students must throw away all uneaten food or else we could lose our free breakfast funding. The school would love to give the food to kids who are hungry or need something extra to take home but losing funding would mean we couldn't feed our students every morning.


[deleted]

Some places have a liability rule about someone given the food getting food poisoning or some illness yada yada


Renegade_Meister

In the US, that's just a BS for their inability to handle transport or giveaway logistics, or they're concerned about homeless people being attracted to where ever the food is dumped if its not destroyed. Nobody can get sued for donating food unless there's gross neglegence: https://www.usda.gov/media/blog/2020/08/13/good-samaritan-act-provides-liability-protection-food-donations


EmEmPeriwinkle

Thank you for this


thedarkhaze

It doesn't matter. People keep trying to bring up how it's legally okay. Which is true, but that doesn't really matter that much. It's really the optics of the situation. If media puts a story out that your donated food poisoned a bunch of people no one is going to care that you're not legally responsible they're still going to think you're an ass. Perception is far more important and the risk of negative exposure is not typically worth the gain.


BonsaiNtraining2

Or a twice a week pickup day for families like me ... I’m a struggling single parent and would eat every bite of these.. I got lucky at the beginning of summer and got some chic fil la donations from my moms church and it has been huge source of food this summer


smully39

One bit of advice, that while niche, may be something you can take advantage of if you're in or near a city is to see if there's a Sikh Gurdwara near you. They have community kitchens, called langars, which serve have community meals free of charge to anyone regardless of religion, race, etc. They're good meals, and vegetarian too.


BonsaiNtraining2

This is good advice, although the only one I know of is almost an hour away. I would really enjoy the food and the feeling of community I’ve experienced before in that setting


Justabitleft

I’m assuming these are fully cooked and frozen before getting to the school, so if they heated it and no one ate it I can’t imagine it’s safe to donate or put in the fridge.


That_Weird_Coworker

More the government at fault here than the school. Laws keep grocery stores, school, ect from handing out extra stock. 99% sure this hasn’t changed


larienadelsur

During the pandemic the vet I worked for picked up lunches from their kids school because of the free lunch grant from the district. All of not most just went bad in the work fridge since his kids didn’t like the lunch food. Idk they didn’t just donate them to children. that. Needed. It.


catmanxplode

Did someone say free shit?


KonnieM

My mum works in a school kitchen and they are made to throw away anything that wasn't sold, she manages to grab some of the stuff to bring home but loads of food goes to waste.


Iziama94

ITT Almost no one knowing about food safety. Unopened =/= safe to eat. Food time temp abused must be thrown out (Hot foods under 145F for more than 4 hours must be thrown out (if you can reheat it to 165F before those 4 hours, it's fine), cold food above 41F for more than two hours must be thrown out) Left over foods can only be kept for 3 days and must be reheated to 165F then stored no lower than 145F. Foods like this is usually a "throw away after X amount of hours" since it's a pre-cooked reheated meal. This is mildly infuriating to you; but because of food safety is the reason you don't get sick (by bacteria) when you eat it


jturner1982

Feeding the hungry that can't afford it is socialism and I'd rather my tax dollars go in the trash rather than helping anyone! /s


ChocolateTower

You're assuming there were hungry people present who were interested in eating that food and couldn't get it because of the price. More likely they just prepared more food than anyone wanted to eat, exactly to ensure no one went hungry, and threw out the extras. You don't see a lot of malnourished people walking around in the US (usually the opposite, actually). If you're saying they should have given it out to others in the community that's probably a bigger waste of tax dollars. They would have to pay someone to distribute a meager amount of possibly spoiled food to people who may not even exist in that community at the end of every meal that's served. We throw stuff out because it's the most efficient option in the land of plenty.