USA Today: USDA Standards Below QSRs

USDA standards for beef and chicken served to school children through the National School Lunch Program in the past three years are below those used by many fast food chains, according to a USA Today article. For example, the article claims that commercial foodservice buyers like McDonald’s, Burger King and Costco test the ground beef they purchase five to 10 times more often than the USDA typically tests beef intended for school lunch programs, and bacteria limits set by Jack in the Box for burgers is 10 times more stringent than what USDA sets.

Also, USA today charges that USDA uses older chickens called “spent hens” in its school meal program that KFC declines to use and that Campbell Soup stopped using a decade ago because of “quality considerations.” One possible reason: while many of the major commercial buyers have toughened their standards, USDA and its Agricultural Marketing Institute purchasing arm have stood pat since about 2000.