On Sept. 5, the school cafeteria served a carton of expired chocolate milk during lunch that had a texture of goo. When the milk was poured out, it came out as a texture only describable as slime.
Many students have had similar experiences with school food, causing them to question the quality of the food and why it’s not being checked. The cafeteria served chocolate milk that had already expired three days early.
“It was during my sophomore year, I was going to the cafeteria after the pandemic had ended and I went to go grab some of the school milk, and after opening up the milk I was greeted with a rancid smell and a speck of mold on top of the milk,” said senior Adrian Rodriguez.
According to Rodriguez, school food hasn’t improved much through the years. He believes instead of improving in quality, the school is forced to focus on quantity when serving a student population of 1,923. This can be shown especially on the days with the nachos where the line backs up across the quad while the lunch ladies are working to maximize efficiency. The lunch line is especially long on days they’re serving nachos.
“The nachos they serve on usually Tuesdays, it tastes like real food, it tastes more flavourful. It tastes more fresh unlike everything else,” said Junior Mateo Bell.
According to the school’s cafeteria manager, Veronica Miranda, they always have to keep the menu under a certain amount of money because their department has a certain budget, which can’t be disclosed. Anytime the cafeteria faculty come and bring out food from the freezer, they have a rotation, so they try to get whatever’s first. However, it is not the lunch ladies fault for serving expired food. Expiration date’s aren’t always accurate as the food could have either already expiried or it it can still be good.
“Sometimes we get things close to the expiration date, so it’s by no fault of our own,” said Miranda.
Students want more food like the nachos because it tastes better and nobody has to worry about whether it is safe to eat. Although students are fully able to bring their own food to school if they wish, some depend on the school as a source of food and have to accept it regardless of its quality. It’s present sometimes with specials like the pizza they serve on Fridays and especially the nachos, but on days when there aren’t any, students are stuck with potentially spoiled food.
