School serves meat from 2009, used gravy to mask smell

Photo credit: Mike Herrell

Photo credit: Mike Herrell


Parents in Hawkins County, Tennessee near Knoxville are outraged after learning children were fed 6-year-old pork roast for lunch.

County Commissioner Michael Herrell was alerted to the problem after a cafeteria worker at Joseph Rogers Primary School sent him a photo of the meat they had for school meals.

The pork roast was dated back to 2009. Workers there didn't serve the meat, but other schools did.

"The woman that was raising the stink about it, she said it smelled so bad they made gravy to put over the meat, to give it a small to give it a better taste," Herrell tells WBIR

Director of Schools Steve Starnes said he learned about the issue April 23. The meat passed their tests.

"There were some meats with dates of 2009, 10, 11 in the freezer. Our child nutrition supervisor had the cafeteria managers look at the meat, do the tests, and see if it was OK. The decision was made to serve it," said Starnes.

Cafeteria workers have been asked to go through inventory and make sure that no expired stock is left on the shelves.  So far, there have been no reports of illness.

Although the school district is working to correct the problem, Herrell says someone should be held responsible.