KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — The serving of six-year-old frozen meat to students in Hawkins County last week left questions in some parents’ minds about what precautions go into serving food in other school systems, like Knox County Schools.
The pork roast, some dating back to 2009, was served in 17 of Hawkins County’s 18 schools. There are no reports of any students getting sick, but a special meeting was held Thursday night aimed at making sure it doesn’t happen again.
Knox County Schools Director of Nutrition Wanda McCown says each food item in all cafeterias in the county is dated twice to avoid any confusion.
“Normally in Knox County, we try to use the product by the expiration date or before,” said McCown. “We take the acceptability of the products and the quality of products and the wholesome safety of all food products very seriously in Knox County.”
McCown walked WATE 6 On Your Side through West Valley Middle School’s cafeteria freezer and pointed out how inventory is done in the district.
“This is where the product is brought into the freezer. Here we have the distributors date then the manager of the cafeteria dates the product and puts it in the cooler,” said McCown. “We do an inventory every month on the last day of each month of every product that we have.”