School replaces student's homemade lunch

RAEFORD, N.C., Feb. 15 (UPI) -- A North Carolina woman said her preschool daughter was given school-made chicken nuggets after a state employee decided her homemade lunch was not nutritious.

The woman, who asked not to be identified to protect her daughter from retaliation, told the Carolina Journal an agent from the Division of Child Development and Early Education at the state Department of Health and Human Services was inspecting West Hoke Elementary School in Raeford and determined her daughter's lunch was not nutritious. She said the lunch -- a turkey and cheese sandwich, a banana, potato chips and apple juice -- was deemed to be not in compliance with USDA guidelines requiring one serving of meat, one serving of milk, one serving of grain and two servings of fruit or vegetables.

She said she was charged $1.25 for the school-supplied meal of chicken nuggets.

Jani Kozlowski of the Division of Child Development said the homemade lunch appears to have met the guidelines and she does not know why the agent had the meal replaced.

The mother said she wrote to state Rep. G.L. Pridgen, whose office said the matter is being investigated.

The Carolina Journal is a publication of the conservative non-profit John Locke Foundation, based in Raleigh N.C.