Freshman Stevie King was more than shocked when she went to take a bite out of her lunch Thursday, September 4.

What she found in her lunch was less than appetizing.

“I saw these little maggot things [in my rice],” said King. “I saw them, and I didn’t know what to do. I just called a teacher over, Mr. Schiffgens, and he told me not to eat it.”

Mr. Schiffgens, a Spanish teacher at the high school, had more to add to the story.

“I had three students call me over and ask me to take a look at their food,” said Schiffgens.  “They showed me their food and pointed out little white grubs in their rice. I did a quick search, and it looked like they could be what are called ‘rice weevils’.”

Bruce Thens, General Manager of the Food Department at the high school, was able to explain the situation. “This is the first incident we’ve had with something like this,” said Thens. “All of the food is pre checked by the USDA before it comes into the school. A battery of tests are run on it, and it has to pass through inspection. This is no fault of the school because all of the food comes in pre prepared. I have looked into this, and I am certain that these ‘rice weevils’ will cause no harm, but to be safe, we have completely eliminated rice from the lunch menu and thrown out all of the rest of the rice. We hope nothing like this happens again.”

The school has assured both students and parents that there is nothing to worry about, and no one’s health is at stake. The problem has been eliminated.