Take Care to Pack a Safe School Lunch

The safety of our food supply has garnered national attention in recent years, but it's important not to overlook the safety of a food source closer to home: a packed school lunch.

Fight BAC! (www.fightbac.org), a national consumer education campaign sponsored by the Partnership for Food Safety Education, offers a number of suggestions.

Make sure your hands, food preparation surfaces and utensils are clean. Hot, soapy water gets rid of bacteria. Teach children to wash their hands before eating. Be sure to wash fruits and vegetables before packing them. Keep family pets away from food prep areas.

Use an insulated bottle to keep hot foods hot. Fill the bottle with boiling water and let it stand for a few minutes. Empty the bottle and then fill it with piping hot food. Keep the bottle closed until lunchtime.

Cold foods should stay cold, so invest in a freezer gel pack and an insulated lunch box. Freezer gel packs will keep foods cold until lunchtime, but are not recommended for all-day storage. Any perishable food, such as meat, poultry or egg sandwiches, should be discarded if not eaten at lunch.

It's especially important to include a cold source if a paper bag is used to carry lunch. A freezer gel pack or a frozen sandwich works well. Because paper bags tend to become soggy or leak as cold food thaws, be sure to use an extra paper bag to create a double layer. Double-bagging will also help insulate food better.

If a refrigerator is available at school, be sure to use it. If not, keep packed lunches out of direct sunlight and away from radiators, baseboards and other heat sources found in the classroom.

Always have a supply of shelf-stable foods on hand at home for easy packing. These include fresh fruits and vegetables, crackers, peanut butter, packaged pudding and canned fruits or meats.

Freeze single-sized juice packs overnight and place the frozen drink in the lunch. The juice will thaw by lunchtime, but will still be cold. The frozen drink will also help keep the rest of the lunch cold.

If sandwiches are made the night before, keep them in the refrigerator until packing up in the morning.

Each year, Medical College of Wisconsin physicians care for more than 180,000 patients, representing nearly 500,000 patient visits. Medical College physicians practice at Children's Hospital of Wisconsin, Froedtert Memorial Lutheran Hospital, the Milwaukee VA Medical Center, and many other hospitals and clinics in Milwaukee and southeastern Wisconsin.