HARTSVILLE, SC (WBTW) – The Darlington County School District says it is looking into reports of bugs in school food at Hartsville Middle School.
According to Darlington County School District Public Information Officer Audrey Childers, a parent shared a picture on Friday of what “seems to show a bug in Hartsville Middle School lunch.” Childers’ press release, sent early Monday morning, says the district takes “all concerns like this very seriously.”
Childers reports as soon as the parent made the school district aware of the alleged bug problem, the district pulled the food from the serving line, contacted the Department of Health and Environmental Control, and began an internal investigation. As part of that investigation, Childers says the district has “found no evidence of a bug infestation, or even a single bug, in the food at Hartsville Middle School.”
Childers says the district will continue to investigate and work with DHEC during their inspections.
“DHEC has been in today, we did call them today, and they came in,” expresses Childers. “They gave us a very thorough inspection. We passed the inspection with flying colors. We earned a 97, an A.”
Childers says she believes the “maggot” situation was a misunderstanding of the food being served. Childers says DHEC reports the peas that are harvested late can lose pods that do look like bugs, but the small piece is actually edible, and just a piece of the pea itself.
