Help with New Lunch Bag Findings: Keeping Lunch Safe and Healthy

Not your mother's lunch box: another
study to force parents to question
how we survived to adulthood.

The new article in the August issue of Pediatrics, due online August 8, entitled "Temperature of Foods Sent by Parents of Preschool-aged Children" reports that over 90% of the 705 sack lunches that they tested contained perishable food at unacceptable temperatures an hour-and-a-half before the food was to be consumed.  This includes food placed in insulated containers and those with ice-packs, though 39% of the lunches did not even contain an ice-pack.

Though this is important food for thought, before we start exclusively feeding our preschoolers food packed with preservatives, we need to understand the implications of the study, some of which are discussed in "Temperature of Preschooler's School Lunches" by Dr. Vincent Iannelli. 
Regardless of new findings, as the school years starts, we could all benefit from making sure that the nutritious foods that we pack in our children's lunchboxes are not only healthy but safe.  A few things that have been suggested for keeping your child's lunch safer (short of buying your preschooler their own mini-fridge):

-Use an insulated lunch box
-Use at least one ice pack or freeze their bottled water, yogurt, or apple sauce and use it as a second ice pack, but run a test prior to the first day of school to find out if they will melt sufficiently by lunchtime for consumption.
-Pack sandwiches the night before and allow them to thoroughly chill in the refrigerator over night. 
-Place other lunch items that do not need to be cold in the refrigerator to help keep items that require refrigeration colder.
-Do not cut foods prior to packing them (e.g. a whole banana or cherry tomatoes)
-Prepare food on a clean surface, and place food into a clean lunch box with a clean ice-pack.
-Do not reuse plastic bags.
-If sending milk, place it in an insulated container or choose a milk that does not require refrigeration
-Choose foods that do not require refrigeration (e.g. dry cereal, granola bar or, peanut butter sandwich over ham and cheese).

Unfortunately, there does not appear to be a lunch box, bag or otherwise on the market that will maintain safe temperatures even with an ice pack; Good Housekeeping tested forty-three lunch bags and none passed the test after two hours. 

Thermos Foogo Leak-Proof Stainless Steel
Food Jar, Blue, 10-Ounce

There are some options in ice packs that may be more promising than a paper-thin, goo-filled cartoon character that is room temperature on the walk from the freezer to the lunch bag ; Icy Cools Reusable Ice Mats received four stars on Amazon after twenty-six reviews, and as three come with an order, you could use one on either side of the lunchbox; it is also filled with water versus a gel (I have not used this product).  Regardless of what ice pack you choose, go with something larger and thicker, so that it will stay frozen longer. 
Another option to keeps perishables fresh comes from Thermos, who makes a 10 ounce “food jar” in its Foogo line that promises to keep foods cold for seven hours and hot for five; it is top-rack dishwasher safe and designed for children (4.5 stars after 48 reviews on Amazon).

What do you do or what product do you use to keep your child's lunch at a safe temperature?

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