Advertisement

Charlotte mom ‘disgusted’ over school lunch. CMS says it’s isolated.

On a typical school day, Dina Caballero’s daughter brings her lunch from home.

But last Wednesday, an early release day for Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools, Caballero’s daughter opted to try school lunch at James Martin Middle.

If only she knew what she was served.

“Honestly, I don’t know,” Caballero told The Charlotte Observer this week. “My daughter says she was told (it was) turkey and cheese.”

Caballero’s daughter took a photo of a pre-wrapped sandwich with cheese and a piece of meat. The meat was round and appeared discolored in places, with a couple gray-brown patches against the pinkish slice of meat.

Caballero posted the photo and a message on the social media site Nextdoor. Under the comment section, one person described the meat as “dinosaur meat.” Another called it “rotten,” and yet another said it looked raw.

One post reads: “This can make somebody sick.”

“I’m disgusted to see my child being served food in this condition,” Caballero wrote. “My child took a picture of what they were served today and it’s unacceptable ... Thankfully my child did not eat this disgusting thing that I won’t dare to call food.”

CMS officials Monday confirmed what the James Martin Middle menu calendar listed as what was served to students that day: a turkey, ham and cheese croissant.

“Over 50,000 of these sandwiches were served district wide last Wednesday,” Catherine Essick, executive director of school nutrition services, told The Charlotte Observer.

“There were no other issues regarding the sandwich. We hate this happened,” Essick said.

It’s unclear what caused the discoloration and appearance of the sandwich meat. CMS did not answer whether it’s believed to be freezer burn or mold growth or something else.

Essick said quality and expiration checks are done daily on all products. CMS’ school nutrition services department is self-supporting, according to its web page. It operates on a $70 million budget, and “any profit is put back into the program to provide higher quality food to our customers,” according to the site.

“In the event a child is receives an unacceptable food item, they can take it to the cafeteria staff for an immediate free replacement,” Essick said.

Like other area school districts, CMS has been challenged by vacancies and staff shortages over the last couple of years, including jobs like cafeteria workers and bus drivers. In addition, nearly every school system with a meal service program in the country has reported supply chain problems and interruptions during COVID-19.

Parents angry over school food

Caballero said she talked to a district manager and was told “this could have happened when food was transported from manufacturer to the school.” Caballero was told that “maybe the meat was already like that when the manufacturer prepared sandwiches.”

“She was disgusted,” Caballero said of her daughter. “She was too afraid to go for another one so she just went the rest of the day without eating.” She said her daughter and a few of her friends who were sitting together stopped as many kids as they could from eating their sandwich.

Caballero’s Nextdoor post drew dozens of comments multiple parents claiming they pack their students lunches because of the quality of school lunches. Another group of parents said they were going to makes calls to the school this week.

“My boys used to attend this school and came home hungry a lot (un)til I started packing their lunch,” one post reads.

“YUCK!!! This is disgusting! They would definitely be hearing from me,” another post reads.

Essick said while her department has seen rising costs across the board like other food-related businesses, CMS has and has had plenty of food.

Caballero says her daughter has never liked the food in the school — and will continue not eating it.

“She will indeed continue taking her own lunch,” she said. “As a parent I’m very disappointed with lunches provided by CMS.”