(http://msnbcmedia.msn.com/j/MSNBC/Components/Photo/_new/Suode%20Primary%20School%20Lunch.photoblog600.jpg)Weibo.com / kayaliangA picture circulated on Weibo of a carton of milk and piece of bread that make up a free school lunch for students at the Suode primary school in Fenghuang, central Hunan province in China.By Ed Flanagan, NBC NewsBEIJING -- Five local Chinese education officials were sacked this week amid rampant speculation that they were stealing from a national lunch program, prompting a nationwide online debate over how this nation of 1.3 billion is feeding its more than 194 million K-12 students.
The five officials were dismissed from the Fenghuang school district in the central Hunan province after it was revealed they were serving substandard meals to the children (http://usa.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2012-11/27/content_15963859.htm), sparking outrage and raising questions about whether they were pocketing the money instead.
The terrible meals at Suode Primary were first exposed last month when a volunteer teacher at the school, Liang Xuyue, took a photo of the "healthy" lunch and posted it on China's Twitter-like service, Weibo.
NBCNews