Mar 5, 2009 10:46 pm US/Eastern
I-Team: How Safe Is Your Public School Cafeteria?
FRAMINGHAM (WBZ) ―
Contaminated food and rodent infestation -- that's not what you want to hear about in your child's school cafeteria. But all too often that is the case.
WBZ's I-Team randomly selected 17 communities across our viewing area and examined hundreds of pages of public health inspection reports.
Chief Correspondent Joe Shortsleeve says what they found is enough to make you -- and your child – sick.
MOUSE TROUBLE
Take a walk with the Framingham Health Inspector, Ethan Mascoop, and you see things you don't want to see.
"You can also see rodent droppings down here," Mascoop pointed out. He made this observation walking through one his local school cafeterias.
"It's at a level where it needs to be taken care of," he said.
In fact, the Barbieri School in Framingham has been fighting a losing battle when it comes to mice. Just ask the kids who go to school there. We did.
"So somebody saw a mouse in the recycling bin?" Shortsleeve asked.
"Yes, it was in the recycling bin," said the second-grader.
'SOMETHING SHOULD BE DONE'
His stunned mother offered this to our TV camera: "Something should be done immediately, that is very unhealthy."
But the most recent inspection reports -- obtained by the I-TEAM -- reveal a chronic and troubling problem. Mice returning to the elementary public school cafeteria because they "like their own urine and feces."
Another parent outside the school told the I-Team, "Definitely not a good thing having the mice in there and the droppings and everything that goes with it like the potential diseases."
Inspector Mascoop describes the year long problem at the Barbieri School this way.
"Significant, no question this is significant."
When the I-Team started asking questions -- the Framingham Board of Health went looking for answers.
This past week the Superintendent of Schools Gene Thayer was invited to attend a Board of Health meeting.
Thayer told the I-Team, "We have taken care of that. From time to time we found droppings and they were cleaned up. We do have an aggressive program in place to get rid of them."
PUBLIC INSPECTION REPORTS
Since 2004 any cafeteria participating in the
National School Lunch Program has to adhere to tougher standards.
They must be inspected at least twice a year.
The most recent report needs to be posted and copies made available to the public.
If what the I-Team found by combing through the health records of 17 random communities is any indication, many of our kids' cafeterias are just plain disgusting.
We found schools that fail inspections over and over again with mold issues, expired and spoiled food and fire hazards.
FOOD BORNE ILLNESS
The
Center for Science in the Public Interest recently published a report on the state of school cafeterias.
In a satellite interview Chief Correspondent Joe Shortsleeve asked, "What are some of the real health threats facing children in these dirty cafeterias?"
Researcher Sarah Klein responded, "The
Centers for Disease Control estimate that 76 million Americans are sickened by food borne illness each year. Five thousand die. We know that children are particularly susceptible to food borne illness."
And that's the real concern here. Hearing about mice might be gross, but it's making sure that food is properly prepared and stored that's most important.
TEMPERATURE CONTROL
It's simple -- cold food needs to be cold and hot food needs to be hot. Otherwise they become breeding grounds for all types of bacteria.
But the I-Team found violation after violation even in some well funded school districts.
The Lincoln School in Brookline was cited for egg salad that was 50 degrees. It is not suppose to exceed 40 degrees. And at the middle school in Concord the tuna salad was all the way up to 57 degrees.
In Brockton, at the Gilmore Academy health inspectors were so upset last spring by what they found with regards to the proper temperature of certain foods that they ordered the school to immediately stop serving all hot food.
A school spokesperson tells the I-Team the situation is now fixed.
KIDS AT RISK
In the city of Boston the I-Team found that 60 percent of the school cafeterias failed their inspection at some point last year.
Sarah Klein says, "Unfortunately we have seen deaths from ecoli…children are at a particular risk because they are still developing their immune systems. Their bodies are not quite as well equipped to fight of pathogens."
Parents don't have much choice in the matter. Children have to go to school and they have to eat.
But it was still eye opening to learn what children might be fed and who they're eating it with. One mom outside the Framingham school put it this way.
"I am not really happy about it."
One inspector told Shortsleeve if they found similar conditions in a city restaurant they would immediately begin the process of shutting the place down.
The problem with public schools is that thousands of kids have to eat in short period of time.
So there really is a double standard at work here, and with communities laying off health inspectors it only makes the situation more precarious for kids.
PARENTS CAN GET REPORTS
Remember these health inspection reports are public, and you have the right to see them.
Framingham parents had no idea about the mice in the Barbieri school cafeteria even though the kids did.
Schools will act a lot quicker if parents are calling.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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