The Potter-Dix School District has fired head cook Kevin Frei, according to superintendent Mike Williams.

Williams told KNEP, 10/11's sister station, junior and senior high school students were served chili with kangaroo meat mixed with beef one time.

Frei added the kangaroo meat because of its nutritional value as a very lean meat, the district said. He shared the nutritional information with superintendent Williams after it was revealed the ingredient was added into the school’s chili.

“If a family wants to eat exotic foods, they can do so on their own time – not at school,” Williams said. “If we were to have food or ingredients that are out of the ordinary, they should be listed on the menu so that the students and families are aware of what they would be being served. We will no way be serving food of this nature again. Period.”

Potter-Dix High School is located in Potter, Neb., which is 19 miles west of Sidney.

School officials do not believe kangaroo meat is unhealthy or dangerous and it meets USDA standards in order for companies to sell it, but Williams said it will not be a part of the Potter-Dix meal program.

“On behalf of Potter-Dix Public Schools, I apologize for the anxiety and any harm that this has caused individual students and/or families,” Williams said. “We will make sure that something like this never occurs again.”

The district did not include where the kangaroo meat was purchased from.