School cook who added kangaroo meat to chili loses job

POTTER, Neb. (AP) -- A Nebraska school cook who mixed kangaroo meat into chili he made for students has lost his job.

Potter-Dix Schools Superintendent Mike Williams said Thursday that Kevin Frei, the junior/senior high school's head cook in Potter, no longer works for the district.

Williams said in a letter to parents Wednesday that Frei told him he'd augmented the chili's beef on Oct. 10 with kangaroo meat because it is lean and nutritious. Williams says the meat came from a food distributor that must meet federal requirements.

Williams says he doesn't think the kangaroo meat was unhealthy or dangerous, but that it is "without a doubt not a normal staple of our diet."

He apologized for any anxiety the exotic ingredient may have caused and vowed that such incidents will not recur.