A Canadian mother who sent her two children to school with nutritious lunches of roast beef, potatoes, carrots and oranges was fined $10 for failing to include a grain under the government’s health standards.
The school also saw fit to correct the deficient lunches by feeding the kids processed Ritz crackers, which are high in saturated fats, according to Gawker.
The school sent home a note detailing mother Kristen Bartkiw’s crime:
Parents will be charged $5.00 per child, per item missing, if the child’s lunch is not a balanced meal according to the Canadian Food Guide effective April 17/12.
Bartkiw told Weighty Matters, a food blog, that she could have sent her kids to school with “microwave Kraft Dinner and a hot dog, a package of fruit twists, a Cheestring, and a juice box” and skated by just fine under the asinine policy.
Government lunch policies are also a contentious issue here in the states. First lady Michelle Obama’s national school lunch program has been criticized by students, parents and school administrators who complain that the food is expensive, insufficient and gross. (RELATED: Kentucky students to first lady Michelle Obama: Your food ‘tastes like vomit’)
“Amazing how the government always believes it knows better than parents how to care for children,” wrote the editors of The College Fix. “Parents, aren’t you glad the government knows so much more than you?”