Every day students saunter into the cafeteria, hesitant to see what grotesque options that may be served for lunch that day. It isn’t just Fairfax County that suffers from the poor quality of government regulated lunches. Children all over America are forced to consume greasy and over due fatty foods.

“I don’t like school lunches because it’s fattening and disgusting and you find hair in your food.” sophomore Joel Falla

Beef Products Inc. provided 5.5 million pounds of meat to schools in 2006. They used a USDA ammonia treatment on spoiled beef to give it a facade of freshness. Pet food companies refuse to use this process. If cats and dogs are not fed these atrocious left overs, then why in the world should they be fed to human beings?

It is obviously good for the government to provide nutritious meals because that could be the only meal that some lower class children eat every day. However, those students should be treated like people and fed edible, fair quality food. Just because food is offered by the government should not mean that they don’t have to be appetizing selections. For these very reasons, I take extra time out of my busy weekday nights to pack a lunch to avoid the monstrous cafeteria food.

Not only do schools not have many natural or healthy options, according to vegnews.com, a good portion of school-distributed foods are surplus which the government buys from businesses at majorly discounted prices. The prices are so cheap because many of the products are over their “sell-by” dates. Even fast food restaurants do not want to purchase the second hand materials that farmers could not sell.

“Even though school lunch is gross, I still eat them because i don’t have time to make my lunch. I think the food is very fake and I wish that there were more natural options,” junior Biniam Tsehay said.

Everything about school lunches is gross and not enticing in any way. The food we are provided heightens obesity and promotes unhealthy eating habits. When one thinks “Energy Zone” they might think fresh, green salads with a decedent dressing to add to the flavor. Instead, Fairfax County’s “Energy Zone” refers to fake cheese and crunchy spaghetti noodles topped with mystery meat that could have been ammonia treated. The name “Energy Zone” is a joke.