Freedom to choose is at the heart of our economic system and our political structure. Freedom to make choices about what we buy is what makes our free-enterprise system the envy of the world.

Fresh from the tyranny of the British monarchy, our founding fathers crafted a political structure that protected individual freedoms. But, when it comes to food, it seems all that gets tossed out the window.

A small, yet powerful, group of self-appointed food dictators is deciding what we and our kids can and cannot eat. They are using the captive situations we often find ourselves in, such as school lunchrooms, workplace cafeterias and hospital rooms, to force us to eat what they want us to eat.

Foodservice provider Sodexo has significantly expanded the reach of its Meatless Monday offerings, the Gaithersburg, Md.-based company announced last week. The initiative is already in more than 900 hospitals, and will now be available in more than 2,000 corporate and government locations, such as Toyota, Northern Trust Bank and the U.S. Department of the Interior.
What is even more ridiculous than this anti-meat fad is the twaddle used to justify the action.

“Providing an opportunity for eating meatless one day a week is a simple way for us to address the dietary concerns of our customers and, in part, advance our own environmental objectives,” Will Nicklas, corporate manager, corporate services for Toyota Motor Sales, Inc., said in a statement.

“Meatless Monday has been successful here primarily because Sodexo helps our customers understand that it is not at all about becoming vegetarians or even weight loss; it’s about taking easy steps to guard our health and be good stewards of our environment.”

Excuse me? A guy who works for one of the largest car makers in the world, whose cars belch out tons of greenhouse gases and that run on fossil fuel, has the nerve to suggest not eating meat is good environmental stewardship?
What is even worse is that this food service tyrant has plans to expand its Meatless Monday program. In the fall, the company will launch the program in schools and colleges; more than a dozen such sites now offer Meatless Mondays.

This year, Sodexo plans to launch a pilot program for staff and residents in senior-living communities. Sodexo, Inc., part of the global Sodexo Group, serves 10 million consumers daily at 6,000 client sites in North America.
So, look out, grandma, the food police are about to take away your liver and onions on Monday.

Another place where food choice is no longer an option is the school lunchroom. The Chicago Tribune reported that, at the Little Village Academy on Chicago’s west side, students are not allowed to pack lunches from home. Unless they have a medical excuse, they must eat the food served in the cafeteria. Principal Elsa Carmona said her intent is to protect students from their own unhealthly food choices.

“Nutrition-wise, it is better for the children to eat at the school,” Carmona said. “It’s about the nutrition and the excellent quality food that they are able to serve (in the lunchroom).”

Since when are school principles also registered dietitians? And since when is food from home assumed to be bad?

This “no lunch brought from home policy” was not developed as a result of an exhaustive study or nutritional research. Carmona told the Tribune she created the policy six years ago after watching students bring “bottles of soda and flaming hot chips” on field trips for their lunches.

Reporters Monica Eng and Joel Hood cite a Chicago Public Schools spokeswoman who said she could not say how many schools prohibit packed lunches and that decision is left to the judgment of the principals. “While there is no formal policy, principals use common sense judgment based on their individual school environments,” Monique Bond wrote in an e-mail. But the real reason for the restriction on home cooked food may be economic.

According to the article, “Any school that bans homemade lunches also puts more money in the pockets of the district’s food provider, Chartwells-Thompson. The federal government pays the district for each free or reduced-price lunch taken, and the caterer receives a set fee from the district per lunch.”

What do the kids think of the school lunches they are forced to eat? When the reporters put that question to one of the students, he responded. “Who thinks the lunch is not good enough?” the seventh-grader shouted to his lunchmates in Spanish and English. Dozens of hands flew in the air and fellow students shouted along: “We should bring our own lunch! We should bring our own lunch! We should bring our own lunch!” Out of the mouth of babes…

Study after study has shown that one of the things consumers want most is choice when it comes to food. I have no problem if someone does not want to eat meat on Monday or any other day of the week. But why should the meat-eating majority be forced to sacrifice to please the few anti-meat eaters?
The fact that the big brother school system is telling parents what they can and cannot feed their children is just the beginning of a trend that, if left unchecked, may take away our right to choose what we eat.

The views and opinions expressed in this column are those of the author and not necessarily those of Farm World. Readers with questions or comments for Gary Truitt may write to him in care of this publication.