Senior Henry Feldman sat in the lunchroom enjoying his school lunch until he saw the best-by dates were crossed off on the popcorn packaging.

Feldman said he realized the date was drawn over with a black marker Jan. 7. After consulting multiple people, he said he could make out the date as Dec. 27, 2015 on the bag.  

“I feel confused that the school would hand these out instead of getting non-expired popcorn,” Feldman said.

Senior Graham Anderson said he feels more bothered that the staff crossed off the dates than the fact that they were passed best-by date.

“I think they should have just left the date because it was only (past due) by a week,” Anderson said. “I was bothered by the fact that they tried to hide it.”

According to district food production manager Tami Borgen, the lunch staff tasted the popcorn before serving it but declined to comment on why they crossed off the date.

“It was completely fine popcorn, we all tasted it. Instead of throwing it away, we decided it was fine to give to the students,” Borgen said. “We wouldn’t give the students anything that wasn’t good.”

Borgen said protocol will differ in the future to eliminate concern.

“In the future we will trash the food; it will just be easier for everyone,” Borgen said. “We just didn’t want to be wasteful.”

Junior Iqbal Maxamed said she thinks students should be cautious in the future and believes the incident may affect the students’ trust in school lunches.

“I think people should be extra careful to look if they are trying to mislead the student body,” Maxamed said.

Anderson said he felt frustrated about the situation but recognizes the lunch staff’s true intentions.

“I know they wouldn’t feed us anything that would potentially harm us,” Anderson said.