Most schools get failing grades when it comes to good nutrition, and cafeteria workers aren’t doing students—or animals—any favors by dishing out harmful animal products.

Mystery meat is more than just gross—it’s deadly. Children are especially susceptible to listeria, E. coli, salmonella, and other dangerous bacteria that are routinely found in animal products. In October 2002, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) revealed that a portion of the 27 million pounds of meat that was linked to a listeria outbreak ended up in the federal lunch program. Now, in an attempt to kill deadly bacteria, the USDA is allowing irradiated meat to be served to schoolchildren. The move makes about as much sense as offering low-tar cigarettes to students in an attempt to make smoking seem healthier.

There is simply no such thing as “safe” meat. In addition to carrying harmful contaminants, animal products are high in fat and cholesterol and can lead to obesity, diabetes, heart disease, cancer, and a slew of other ailments. Find out more about how animal products harm children.

Today, children are so out of shape that even Kraft Foods, Inc., the nation’s largest food company, recently announced that it will no longer bring the Oscar Mayer Wienermobile to schools because of the growing obesity epidemic among children. While Kraft will surely continue to market its fatty wieners to kids in other ways, the move shows that even the country’s largest food manufacturer cannot deny that such unhealthy products have no place in schools.

Researchers with the Institute of Medicine recommend that school cafeterias offer more foods that are low in animal fat so that children aren’t exposed to unhealthy levels of dioxins, dangerous byproducts of industrial and natural combustion that can accumulate in body fat. Dioxins can slow a child’s development, cause neurological problems, and even lead to cancer. According to Michael Taylor of Resources for the Future, “The most direct way to reduce dietary exposure to dioxins is to reduce consumption of animal fat.”

Childhood is a time when eating habits are being formed. Parents and schools should start kids off right by teaching them to make smart, ethical eating choices that will serve them throughout their lives.