BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (WIAT) — A Facebook post about some moldy muffins, served to students in a Birmingham school, has gone viral and raised concerns for some parents and their children.
Miyonna Price, a freshman at Wenonah High School, said she and some friends were sitting down to breakfast in the cafeteria this week when they saw mold growing on each of their muffins. Price said she brought it to the attention of the assistant principal and cafeteria manager. She was allowed to chose something else for her meal.
“But I had already, you know, lost my appetite,” she explained.
The original post has now been shared over 800 times. Price’s mother, Cynthia Price, said she’s grateful that no one got sick, but that her confidence has been shaken. “As a school, especially with the cafeteria, you have to be really careful and make sure you’re checking products,” she said.
Birmingham CIty School’s spokesperson Chanda Temple released the following statement regarding the muffins:
At Birmingham City Schools, we make every effort to ensure that our students receive a healthy and nutritious meal. Our goal is to do this on a daily basis. This week, we learned that some of the blueberry muffins recently delivered to Wenonah High School, had mold on them. We saw this as a serious matter and immediately launched an investigation.
During the investigation, we found that the Wenonah High School Child Nutrition Program (CNP) staff followed all proper food handling procedures.
The muffins were recently delivered to the school. The school’s CNP staff then placed the muffins in the school freezer. When it was time to serve the muffins this week, the muffins were removed from the freezer and defrosted in the school cooler on Monday, Oct. 10. The muffins were individually wrapped in partially-colored wrappers from the manufacturer. The colored wrappers obstructed the view of part of the muffins. The muffins were still in their original wrappers from the manufacturer when they were put out for consumption in the school lunchroom on Oct. 12. (The muffins were labeled with a year shelf life.)
As soon as a student notified the CNP staff about mold on a muffin on Oct. 12, all muffins that had been placed out for consumption were removed.
As a precautionary measure, the director of the district’s CNP office has asked all Birmingham schools to discontinue serving the muffin products until further notice.
The district’s CNP office has contacted the state CNP’s office concerning this matter. The district continues to investigate.