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"   Sandwich? Check. Apple? Check. Milk? Check and check. We know you take care to send your child to school with a healthy lunch, but there might be some not-so-healthy things lurking in that lunchbox. According to a recent study published in the Journal of Pediatrics, most home-packed lunches are inadequately chilled, raising the risk of food-borne illness. Researchers at the University of Texas took the temperatures of preschoolers&amp;#039; home-packed lunches 1.5 hours before the lunches were served. Of all the lunches they tested, nearly 90% were found to be at room temperature. Because bacteria thrive between 40\u00B0F and 140\u00B0F, food should not be kept at room temperature for longer than 2 hours. These results were no surprise to us! Last year, when the Good Housekeeping Research Institute tested 43 lunch boxes, we found that none were able to keep a kid&amp;#039;s lunch at safe temperatures, even when a cold pack was included, if they were stored at typical room conditions. The good news is we found that there is something you can do to make sure your child&amp;#039;s lunch stays cold enough to keep him from getting sick: Prepare and freeze a sandwich the night before packing and place it in a lunchbox that&amp;#039;s been chilled along with a cold juice box and a cold whole fruit. Other things you can do to ensure that your child&amp;#039;s lunch stays safe:   Start clean: Wash your hands and sanitize counter-tops before preparing your child&amp;#039;s lunch. This goes for all home food preparation, too!  Choose fruits and veggies that don&amp;#039;t have to be cut: Cutting into a fruit or vegetable introduces bacteria, which is usually kept out by the intact skin or peel. Instead of a sliced snack, pack a whole apple or banana, grapes, baby carrots, or snap peas.  Include healthy foods that don&amp;#039;t need to be chilled like Horizon shelf-stable milk and Bonbel crackers.  Refrigerate at school: Ask your child&amp;#039;s school if they provide refrigeration for home-packed lunches. At the very least, they should be able to provide a cooler for safe storage until lunchtime.  Have a healthy start to the school year, and be sure to check out The Three Secrets to Packing a Safe Lunch and 5 Healthy Lunchbox Foods That Don&amp;#039;t Need to Be Chilled. Want to learn how we put consumer products to the test and keep you safe? Sign up for a tour of the famous Good Housekeeping Research Institute. If you visit, be sure to say hello when you come by the Kitchen Appliances &amp;amp;amp; Technology Lab. "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.goodhousekeeping.com/institute/a24118/how-to-pack-safe-lunch/>