Virginia students vote for pink slime burgers, not pure beef

What is wrong with these kids? I suppose if the only burgers that you eat at home are McDonalds and Burger King then you will never appreciate what a good healthy burger tastes like.

Kids’ beef with all-beef burgers prompts school to bring back the processed meat

Virginia school district brings back 26-ingredient burger after students complain about the taste and look of all-beef patties.

Photo: Valeriy Lebedev/Shutterstock

Kids in Fairfax, Va., have demanded their additives and chemicals, and it looks like they are going to get them. According to a recent story in the Washington Post, Fairfax County Public Schools are pulling all-beef burgers from school lunch menus and replacing them with processed meat after heeding complaints from students.

It all started during the 2011-12 school year, when a Fairfax-based advocacy group called Real Food for Kids released a report showing that the school district’s burgers contained 26 ingredients, including a number of additives and preservatives. Parents were outraged, and the processed burgers were replaced with all-beef patties. But at the start of this school year, the school district quietly returned to the processed patty, citing kids’ complaints about the all-beef burger as their reasoning.

In a note to Real Food for Kids, Penny McConnell, Fairfax schools’ food and nutritional service director, wrote that “students are our customers and we listen to them and implement their requests if possible.”

OK, I get that. But what are the schools going to do if the students complain that math is too hard? Or that they don’t want to learn how to spell? Wouldn’t it have been better to try another option — such as switching all-beef burger suppliers or working with the kids to address their concerns, rather than taking a step backward and bringing back the burger that’s chock full of chemicals?

Parents, school officials, and health care providers are supposed to be working together to help kids lead a healthier lifestyle. What does it teach kids when their school officials bring back what is essentially junk food just because the kids say it taste better? Should they switch back to potato chips because those are more popular with students than vegetables?

http://www.mnn.com/food/healthy-eating/blogs/kids-beef-with-all-beef-burgers-prompts-school-to-bring-back-the-processed

Ruby Tuesday Bacon Cheese Pretzel Burger

We stopped at Ruby Tuesday for lunch and I ordered one of their new pretzel burgers. I think it’s just their old burger, but on a pretzel roll instead of a bun. Dad says they only renamed it because that way they can charge a dollar more. I don’t know about that, but I think the pretzel roll does make it tastier.

I ordered the ‘Bacon Cheese Pretzel Burger’ which is described on the menu as “fresh 100% USDA choice beef” (Phew! Thank goodness it’s not 99%!) served with “applewood smoked bacon, melted cheddar cheese, and bacon mustard mayonnaise.”  I was not sure about the bacon mustard mayonnaise. You know what I think about mayonnaise on burgers. But Dad said I should try it and describe it in the review.

Ruby Tuesday Bacon Cheese Pretzel Burger.

The burger patty was OK. Ruby Tuesday make a good basic burger patty patty. For a casual dining chain restaurant it is fine.

The bacon was so-so. I like the bacon on my burger to be thick and crispy. This was good, but it needed to be thicker.

The pretzel roll was nice a chewy like a Philadelphia soft pretzel. It was a nice change to have a pretzel roll instead of an ordinary burger bun.

The cheese was basic American slices. That’s OK. American cheese melts easily on burgers.

The bacon mustard mayonnaise was not my favorite thing. There was too much of it. I am glad that I was brave enough to try it, but I would not order it again. I might try the ‘Spicy Jalapeño Pretzel Cheeseburger’ instead.

I award this burger a score of 6.5 out of 10. My last Ruby Tuesday review was a 6 out of 10. The pretzel roll makes 0.5 points of improvement.