US moves to ban 'lunch shaming' kids at schools

LOS ANGELES - In some schools, children are forced to mop cafeteria floors. In others, their hot meal is taken away and thrown in the trash. In extreme cases, students are sent home with a stamp on their arm that reads "I owe lunch money."

Such scenes, worthy of a Charles Dickens novel, have played out in schools across the United States as students whose parents fall behind in meal payments endure what is called "lunch shaming".

The practice gained national attention at the start of the school year when a cafeteria worker in Pennsylvania quit in outrage after having to take away a child's hot meal. More recently, the issue resurfaced after the state of New Mexico passed the first-of-its-kind legislation banning lunch shaming.