Americans have a long tradition of poking fun at esoteric academic dissertation topics and at government-funded projects that they consider to be prima facie evidence of wasteful spending. Both can be easy targets, the former because even their titles can defy understanding and the latter because their topics — why prisoners want to get out of jail, for example — often appear to be so unworthy. Sometimes, though, such research is extremely useful. That’s certainly true about a recent study by a Texas doctoral student.
Fawaz Almansour and his colleagues wanted to know if the perishable foods little kids took to preschool in the morning was at a temperature safe to eat a few hours later when mealtime arrived. Turns out, they were not in almost every instance.
The researchers studied lunches of 700 preschoolers at nine Texas child care centers. Using temperatures guns rather than hands-on contact, they discovered that only about 2 percent of lunches containing perishable foods were at what is deemed to be at a safe temperature to consume at lunchtime. The findings held true even if the food was packed in some sort of insulated container with ice packs. Parents and teachers should take note.
The Department of Agriculture says such foods should be stored at 40 degrees or less and that no food should sit at room temperature for more than two hours. If those standards are not met, bacteria can multiply and make food-borne illnesses more likely. It’s not a surprise that the researchers found that those standards are rarely met. Widespread refrigerated storage often is not available at child care centers.
Equally useful to parents, teachers and caregivers is the researchers’ finding that refrigeration isn’t always the answer to keeping food at a proper temperature. Placing an insulated container in a refrigerator can cause food safety problems in some cases. The insulated containers, they report, often protect food from the chilling effect of the refrigerator, allowing the temperature of the foodstuffs within to reach unacceptable and sometimes health-endangering levels.
The study should be, pardon the expression, food for thought for parents who understandably want to send a nutritious and safe-to-eat meal to preschool for their children. That remains the goal, but the best way to accomplish it now requires some study and planning.
The answer might be as simple as packing a preschooler’s lunch in that old stand-by — a paper sack –and then having it placed in a refrigerator if one is available. If it is not, sending a selection of palatable but not nonperishable foodstuffs, including a drink, is a possible solution. Whatever the resolution, it is undeniable that the Almansour study has provided America’s parents with useful and important information.