School Cafeteria Safety: What Parents Should Know Beyond the Lunch Line

For parents, school cafeterias represent a mix of convenience and trust. Five days a week, millions of children eat breakfast or lunch provided by their schools. Families assume these meals meet not just nutrition standards but also safety standards.

But foodborne illness doesn’t stop at the school door. Even with regulations and oversight, outbreaks tied to school meals continue to happen. The cafeteria line, with its high volume of meals and tight budgets, is a unique environment — and one that deserves a closer look from parents.

Why Cafeterias Are Vulnerable

School cafeterias serve hundreds, sometimes thousands, of meals in a matter of minutes. That scale introduces challenges:

Even one lapse — a fridge not co

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