Let's have mechanically separated chicken for dinner tonight.

[Lorizael]

What's wrong with soda? It's only water and chemicals.

Possibly the kind and quantity of those chemicals?

[Lorizael]

Also water is a chemical.

[Wezil]

Possibly the kind and quantity of those chemicals?

Are they beyond FDA "safe" limits?

[Wezil]

Maybe it just isn't a good food to be giving our children?

[Dinner]

What's wrong with soda? It's only water and chemicals.

Apparently the artificial coloring can cause cancer. I know California recently set new regulations wrt the coloring compound found in both Coke and Pepsi requiring the levels to be 1/5th the current level; this means both Coke and Pepsi had to change their formula to reduce the amount of this cancer causing compound in their formula.

http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/story/251042/lifestyle/food/coke-pepsi-make-changes-to-avoid-cancer-warning

The new California regulation would meant Coke and Pepsi could still sell their products but those products would have had to have a cancer warning on them similar to the cancer warning on a pack of cigerettes. They're both changing their formulas nation wide to avoid putting the cancer warning on their cans.

[kentonio]

For many kids their school lunches are the most healthy thing they eat all day. Kids aren't obese from eating mechanically separated meats, or food that's been treated with ammonia to kill bacteria. Kids are obese because they drink soda instead of water, eat junk food at every meal, and never do anything more physical than turning on their X-boxes.

Often the school lunches ARE junk food.

[Wezil]

Apparently the artificial coloring can cause cancer. I know California recently set new regulations wrt the coloring compound found in both Coke and Pepsi requiring the levels to be 1/5th the current level; this means both Coke and Pepsi had to change their formula to reduce the amount of this cancer causing compound in their formula.

http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/story/251042/lifestyle/food/coke-pepsi-make-changes-to-avoid-cancer-warning

The new California regulation would meant Coke and Pepsi could still sell their products but those products would have had to have a cancer warning on them similar to the cancer warning on a pack of cigerettes. They're both changing their formulas nation wide to avoid putting the cancer warning on their cans.

So the "new" formula will make coke FDA compliant and compliant with CA regs?

Awesome. There's nothing wrong with it now and should be perfectly acceptable for school children.

[DaShi]

The problem is the parents. Parents could provide healthier lunches to students that cost less than the crap the schools' dish out.

[Felch]

Do you mean that the school lunches are Doritos and Twinkies? That's what I mean by junk food. Mechanically separated meats treated with ammonia are economical, but they're not junk.

[Wezil]

Looks to me like an abdication of responsibility all around. The parents can't (or won't) provide healthy lunches for their children and school officials (with consent of parents) feed crap in school lunches.

The only winner I see is the pink slime producer.

[Wezil]

Mechanically separated meats treated with ammonia are economical, but they're not junk.

You have a different definition of "junk" than I.

[Felch]

You'd need to drink hundreds of cans of soda a day to get cancer from the coloring. You'd die of diabetes or some **** long before the cancer ever got to you.

California

[Felch]

You have a different definition of "junk" than I.

Obviously, since you think that nutrients should be wasted, and I think they should be recovered.

[Wezil]

Ammonia is a nutrient now?

[molly bloom]

Often the school lunches ARE junk food.

Well quite- that was what was 'discovered' in Jamie Oliver's look into what goes into making up those really yummy, healthy gourmet options, 'Turkey Twizzlers' for instance. Want the recipe for mechanically separated & recovered toothsome, succulent turkey meat school snacks ?

Turkey (34%),
Water,
Pork fat,
Rusk,
Coating (sugar, rusk, tomato powder, wheat starch, dextrose, salt, wheat flour, potassium chloride, hydrogenated vegetable oil, citric acid, spices, onion powder, malt extract, smoke flavourings, garlic powder, colour [E160c], mustard flour, permitted sweetener [E951], herb, spice extracts, herb extracts),
Vegetable oil,
Turkey skin,
Salt,
Wheat flour,
Dextrose,
Stabiliser (E450),
Mustard,
Yeast extract,
Antioxidants (E304, E307, E330, E300),
Herb extract,
Spice extract,
Colour (E162).

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2005/mar/23/broadcasting1

Slurp.