Multiple Lee County students sent Fox 4 photos of food from their school lunches, saying it’s rotting or undercooked.
The students said the quality of their food has dropped since the school district began offering free lunches for everyone, and said they’d gladly pay for their lunches if it means better food for all.
“Pink chicken. Just nasty food. Just undercooked and it’s just nasty,” South Fort Myers student Chloe Wright said as she described her chicken sandwich from the school cafeteria.
She said the site of her friend’s orange chicken made her take a closer look at her own.
“Evie cut into her food and it was all pink, so while I was eating my chicken sandwich, I finally looked into it and it had pink lines running through it. It was bright pink. It was horrible,” Wright said.
PHOTOS: Dirty Dining in Lee County Schools
Evie Chesley said it this wasn’t the first time.
“It happens pretty much every time you get chicken or any other kind of meat. There’s always usually some pink in there,” Chesley said.
She said the problems aren’t just with the chicken: Chesley said earlier this week, she bought a bag of nachos.
“I was eating the chips and I look in the bag and there’s this little fried black thing in there. I don’t know what it was. It was really gross. I just stopped eating after that,” Chesley said.
Another student took a picture of an orange they said was rotting.
“The orange was cut in two and it was moldy and black and gross. It was horrible,” Wright said.
She said when she’s had issues with her food before, she’s brought it to the lunch worker’s attention.
“She completely turned me down. She just said it wasn’t her business,” Wright said.
Four in Your Corner’s Lisa Greenberg reached out to the Lee County School District: “We serve about 100,000 meals each day. Like any large establishment serving food, anomalies can and do occur.”
“The district always buys top quality products.”
Food Services said: “The item in the nacho chips appears to be something that entered the packaging in the manufacturing process.”
Food Services also addressed the orange: “Often times this internal decay is not noticeable from the outside.”
Neither the District Spokesperson nor Food Services commented on the chicken.
“Some kids, like that’s their only meal, so when they come to school and get that, it’s just kind of upsetting,” Wright said.
Chesley’s mom said she will be visiting the school’s cafeteria and kitchen to see food preparations within the next few days.
