This mystery meat came straight from Outback.
A school cook in Nebraska was fired this week after secretly serving kangaroo meat mixed into beef chili at Potter-Dix Public Schools, according to a report.
Head cook Kevin Frei obtained the kangaroo meat from Sysco, which is the No. 1 distributor of food to school cafeterias in the United States, Sandhills Express reported. Frei said he mixed it into beef chili because of its nutritional value, according to a letter sent to parents by superintendent Mike Williams.
The marsupial meat was served to students at the middle and high school in western Nebraska.
In his letter to parents, Williams said the meat “has to meet” USDA standards and he does not believe it was dangerous.
“If a family wants to eat exotic foods, they can do so on their own time — not at school,” Williams wrote. “We will no way be serving food of this nature again. Period.”
“I apologize for the anxiety and any harm that this has caused individual students and/or families,” he added.
At least one parent told KSID Radio their child got sick, but Williams declined to say whether or not it could’ve been from the exotic meat, which is legal in the US.
“I’ve heard reports of that, but like I said our statement is our statement,” he told Sandhill Express. “I’m just going to stay at that.”