$2 million to spy on poor kids' lunches, paid by our tax dollars

I don't even know where to start, so I think I will bullet-point this one. (Thanks to the ED Activist Network for pointing this one out...)Here are the basics. Four schools in n San Antonio Texas, with help from the USDA (our tax money hard at work) will spend $2 million (aimed at schools with poor and minority kids) to study exactly what the kids are eating, and report it back to the parents... If you can, click on the image to enlarge. It is really disturbing."...high-tech cameras to photograph what foods children pile onto their trays — and later capture what they don't finish eating""Researchers hope parents will change eating habits at home once they see what their kids are choosing in schools."these parents will "...receive regular reports showing what foods their kids are filling up on at lunch."Oy

• already the language is judgmental and pejorative, kids "pile" and "fill up," they don't make food choices... The little gluttons, the ignorant parents!• how is this legal? Look at the photo. The little girl will have her daily food choices scrutinized by adults, by the cashier, by the camera, by her teacher, her parents...• "once the parents see..." oh, so that's why the kids are fat! The parents just don't see what's going on! If only they knew!

• I imagine most of these kids qualify for free or reduced breakfast and lunch, what if this is the only reliable meal they have? Will they be shamed into not getting enough to eat? (We know the connection between food insecurity and increased weight gain...)• Will children focus on calories, instead of nutrition? Chose water or diet soda over milk?• will this increase teasing or bullying?• will this increase the number of kids who diet, become food-preoccupied, increase shame, eating in secret, binging when no one is watching??• will these kids be protected, or will this info be used by health officials, school nurses...• we know that food insecurity, poverty and increased rates of "obesity" are related. We know that kids who get school meals and are FED have lower rates of obesity... Why, oh why this study...

What a colossal waste of money. We already know that BMI report cards don't make parents make better choices for their kids, though misinformed yet well-meaning public health types continue to insist on BMI report cards. I think this is invasive and possibly harmful to the kids and I'm shocked it passed muster. These kids and families are taking part in an experiment with dubious intentions and not very well thought out. If M's school tried this I'd be protesting, demanding that all the teachers' meals and administrators meals are also scanned, I'd encourage the kids to muck it up, to throw out food, to add foods, to add rocks to their trays, toys, crumpled up paper...

What could 2 million have paid for in terms of better food? More part-time kitchen help, more whole foods, more cooks, more folks to peel and prepare real food– in other words to actually improve what the kids are eating?

Many, as I mentioned above, might eat two meals at school every day. Couldn't they have improved nutrition in the schools? What a missed opportunity.

It is naive,  ignorant and biased to assume that a calorie, fat, and salt intake report card will improve nutrition in the home. It just is.

What do you think? Am I missing other ways in which this is offensive? (There also seems to be a class and race element to this, from the language to the assumptions...)