一本教会你“做对”题的6级阅读书 day5 passage2

Passage 2 Fast-food Standards for Meat Top Those for School Lunches 089
美国学校的午餐肉 《今日美国》

Fast-food standards for meat top those for school lunches
In the past three years,the government has provided the nation's schools with millions of pounds of beef
and chicken that wouldn't meet the quality or safety standards of many fast-food restaurants,
from Jack in the Box and other burger places to chicken chains such as KFC,
a USA TODAY investigation found.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture（USDA） says the meat it buys for the National School Lunch Program
"meets or exceeds standards in commercial products."
That isn't always the case. McDonald's, Burger King and Costco, for instance,
are far more rigorous in checking for bacteria and dangerous pathogens.
They test the ground beef they buy five to 10 times more often than the USDA tests beef
[01:03]made for schools during a typical production day.
[01:07]And the limits Jack in the Box and other big retailers set for certain bacteria in their burgers
[01:14]are up to 10 times stricter than what the USDA sets for school beef.
[01:21]For chicken, the USDA has supplied schools with thousands of tons of meat from old birds
[01:28]that might otherwise go to compost or pet food. Called "spent hens"
[01:34]because they're past their egg-laying prime, the chickens don't satisfy with Colonel Sanders-
[01:40]KFC won't buy them - and they don't pass the soup test, either.
[01:45]The Campbell Soup Company says it stopped using them a decade ago based on "quality considerations."
[01:54]"We simply are not giving our kids in schools the same level of quality and safety as you get
[02:01]when you go to many fast-food restaurants," says J. Glenn Morris,
[02:06]professor of medicine and director of the Emerging Pathogens Institute at the University of Florida,
[02:13]"We are not using those same standards."
[02:17]It wasn't supposed to be this way. In 2000, then-Agriculture secretary Dan Glickman directed the USDA
[02:27]to adopt "the highest standards" for school meat.
[02:31]He cited concerns that fast-food chains had tougher safety
[02:35]and quality requirements than those set by the USDA for schools,
[02:40]and he vowed that "the disparity would exist no more."
[02:45]Today, USDA rules for meat sent to schools remain more rigorous
[02:51]than the department's minimum safety requirements for meat sold at supermarkets.
[02:57]But those government rules have fallen behind the increasingly tough standards
[03:02]that have evolved among fast-food chains and more selective retailers.
[03:08]Morris, who used to run the USDA office that investigates food-borne illnesses,
[03:15]says the department's purchases of meat that doesn't satisfy higher-end commercial standards
[03:21]are especially worrisome because the meat goes to schools.
[03:26]It's not just that children are more vulnerable
[03:29]to food-borne illnesses because of their fledgling immune systems;
[03:34]it's also because there's less assurance that school cafeteria workers will cook the meat well enough
[03:40]to kill any pathogens that might slip through the USDA's less rigorous safety checks.
[03:49]USDA-purchased meat is donated to almost every school district in the country and served
[03:56]to 31 million students a day, 62% of whom qualify for free or reduced-price meals.
[04:04]President Obama noted earlier this year that, for many children,
[04:10]school lunches are "their most nutritious meal - sometimes their only meal - of the day."
[04:17]Next year, Congress will revisit the Child Nutrition Act, which governs the lunch program.
[04:24]"If there are higher quality and safety standards,the government should set them," says George Miller,
[04:31]chairman of the House Committee on Education and Labor.
[04:35]"Ensuring the safety of food in schools is something we'll look at closely."
[04:42]Officials with the Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS),
[04:47]the USDA agency that buys meat for the school lunch program,
[04:51]insist that schools get top-class products.
[04:55]AMS standards for meat sent to schools have been "
[05:00]extremely successful in protecting against food-borne pathogens,"
[05:05]AMS Administrator Rayne Pegg says in a written statement.
[05:10]She notes that AMS oversight, inspections and tests of that meat
[05:16]exceed those required for meat sold to the general public.
[05:21]The AMS also has a "zero-tolerance" policy that requires rejection of meat
[05:28]that tests positive for pathogens that can cause serious illness or death.
[05:33]Still, after USA TODAY presented USDA officials with its findings,
[05:40]Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack promised an independent review of testing requirements
[05:47]for ground beef that the AMS sends to schools. The review, set for next year,
[05:54]is meant "to ensure the food served to our school children
[05:58]is as safe as possible," Vilsack says in a statement.
[06:03]Tougher standards for school meat would better protect students,
[06:07]experts say. Today's AMS program "is a sort of snapshot of the way things were in (2000),
[06:16]whereas the industry has continued to clamp down," says James Marsden,
[06:21]a Kansas State University professor who advises the meat industry on safety.
[06:28]"It needs to be modernized."
[06:31]The AMS could "very easily" raise the standards for federally purchased school lunch meat,
[06:38]says Barry Carpenter, a former AMS official who helped set up the current sampling
[06:43]and testing requirements in 2000. "
[06:47]If I was still at AMS, I'd say, '
[06:51]Where are we (with today's rules) and where do we need to tighten them?' "
[06:56]Carpenter, now head of the National Meat Association,
[07:01]notes that raising AMS standards "wouldn't cost much,"
[07:05]and it would help combat perceptions that the school lunch program is "a market of last resort" for meat
[07:12]that can't meet with commercial buyers.
[07:16]That perception could be reinforced by the reality of how AMS makes its purchasing decision:
[07:24]Contracts go to the lowest qualified bidders. Orders are placed on a computer system
[07:31]that can be accessed by all of the agency's suppliers - those certified as able
[07:37]to meet the special sampling and testing requirements set for school lunch food.
[07:43]When an order is placed, suppliers enter bids into the system,
[07:48]and the computer automatically awards contracts to low bidders.
[07:54]Industry experts say tougher standards would not significantly add to the agency's costs for school meat.
[08:03]Theno says the safety requirements set by Jack in the Box added less than a penny a pound to its beef costs.
[08:12]Other big buyers outside the school program say it's a worthwhile investment in safety.
[08:20]"It's not about transactional cost; it's about value," says Justin Malvick,
[08:26]a vice president at Keystone,the McDonald's supplier.
[08:31]Carpenter says the meat industry that he now represents would have no problem with a decision to modernize -
[08:39]and toughen - AMS standards for school lunch meat.
[08:43]Most major beef suppliers and processors already have procedures in place
[08:49]to ensure that their products can satisfy the tougher sampling and testing requirements
[08:55]set by many commercial buyers, he adds. If the AMS followed, he says,
[09:02]"I don't think the industry would have any hindrance at all."
[09:07]Some lawmakers say a change is overdue. "Why are we even looking at giving (schools)food
[09:14]that wouldn't be accepted by a restaurant?," asks Carolyn McCarthy, "That's absolutely crazy."