I
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION H. R. 739
To amend the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act to expand
the use of salad bars in schools.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
JANUARY24, 2025
Ms. W
ILSONof Florida introduced the following bill; which was referred to
the Committee on Education and Workforce
A BILL
To amend the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch
Act to expand the use of salad bars in schools.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Salad Bars in Schools 4
Expansion Act’’. 5
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 6
Congress finds the following: 7
(1) In the United States, one-third of all school- 8
aged children are overweight or obese and very few 9
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eat the daily amount of fruits and vegetables rec-1
ommended by national health authorities. 2
(2) On average, more than 30 million children 3
participate in the National School Lunch Program 4
daily, with more than 70 percent qualifying for free 5
or reduced-price meals based on family household in-6
come. 7
(3) Improving the healthfulness of school meals, 8
including serving more fruits and vegetables, will im-9
prove children’s eating habits and their health. The 10
Dietary Guidelines for Americans recommends that 11
children ‘‘make half their plate fruits and vegeta-12
bles’’ at each meal. 13
(4) Research indicates that school salad bars 14
are an effective strategy to increase children’s con-15
sumption of a wide variety of fruits and vegetables. 16
(5) Salad bars are one of the easiest ways for 17
school food authorities to meet the new school lunch 18
nutrition standards that require serving a fruit and 19
a vegetable every day, a colorful variety of vegetables 20
every week, and that students select at least one-half 21
cup of a fruit or a vegetable at lunch. 22
(6) Salad bars are effective in elementary, mid-23
dle, and high school, they empower students to try 24
new fruits and vegetables and are a tangible example 25
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of a school’s commitment to wellness and healthier 1
school meals. 2
SEC. 3. EXPANSION OF SALAD BARS. 3
Section 18 of the Richard B. Russell National School 4
Lunch Act (42 U.S.C. 1769) is amended by adding at the 5
end the following: 6
‘‘(l) E
XPANSION OFSALADBARS.— 7
‘‘(1) M
ARKETING AND COMMUNICATIONS 8
PLAN.—Not later than 90 days after the date of the 9
enactment of the Salad Bars in Schools Expansion 10
Act, the Secretary shall establish and implement a 11
plan to promote the use of salad bars in schools par-12
ticipating in the school lunch program established 13
under this Act. 14
‘‘(2) T
RAINING AND TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE .— 15
In carrying out the plan described in paragraph (1), 16
the Secretary shall provide training and technical as-17
sistance to eligible entities to assist the entities in 18
establishing salad bars in schools. Such training and 19
technical assistance may include— 20
‘‘(A) webinars; 21
‘‘(B) training workshops; 22
‘‘(C) implementation resources; 23
‘‘(D) nutrition education; and 24
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‘‘(E) strategies for parent engagement and 1
to encourage collaboration with allied organiza-2
tions and partners. 3
‘‘(3) G
RANT PROGRAM.— 4
‘‘(A) I
N GENERAL.—In carrying out the 5
plan described in paragraph (1), the Secretary 6
shall establish a grant program under which the 7
Secretary shall provide grants, on a competitive 8
basis, to eligible entities selected under sub-9
paragraph (C). 10
‘‘(B) U
SE OF FUNDS.—Each eligible entity 11
receiving a grant under this subsection shall use 12
the grant funds to award schools a one-time 13
payment equal to the anticipated cost of install-14
ing a salad bar, including the purchase of any 15
durable equipment required for a salad bar. 16
‘‘(C) A
PPLICATION.— 17
‘‘(i) I
N GENERAL.—To receive a grant 18
under this subsection, an eligible entity 19
shall submit to the Secretary an applica-20
tion at such time, in such manner, and 21
containing such information as the Sec-22
retary may require. 23
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‘‘(ii) PRIORITY.—In selecting grant 1
recipients, the Secretary may give priority 2
to eligible entities that— 3
‘‘(I) serve schools in which not 4
less than 50 percent of the students 5
are eligible for free or reduced price 6
lunches; 7
‘‘(II) serve schools in food 8
deserts; or 9
‘‘(III) provide nutrition education 10
to students. 11
‘‘(D) T
ERMINATION.—The grant program 12
shall terminate 5 years after the date of the en-13
actment of the Salad Bars in Schools Expan-14
sion Act. 15
‘‘(E) E
VALUATION.—Each grantee shall 16
submit to the Secretary an evaluation of the 17
grant program at such time, in such manner, 18
and containing such information as the Sec-19
retary may require. 20
‘‘(4) R
EPORT.—Not later than 1 year after the 21
date of the enactment of the Salad Bars in Schools 22
Expansion Act, the Secretary shall submit a report 23
to the Committee on Education and the Workforce 24
and the Committee on Agriculture of the House of 25
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Representatives, and the Committee on Agriculture, 1
Nutrition, and Forestry of the Senate, which in-2
cludes— 3
‘‘(A) recommendations, if any, for pro-4
moting and establishing more salad bars in 5
schools; 6
‘‘(B) the number of schools nationwide 7
that have a salad bar program in their school; 8
‘‘(C) the number of schools that have new 9
salad bars as a result of the plan described in 10
paragraph (1); and 11
‘‘(D) the evaluations submitted by grantees 12
under paragraph (3)(E). 13
‘‘(5) R
EVISION OF GUIDANCE ON SALAD BARS 14
IN THE NATIONAL SCHOOL LUNCH PROGRAM .—Not 15
later than 90 days after submitting the report under 16
paragraph (4), the Secretary shall revise the March 17
27, 2013, policy memorandum SP 31–2013, ‘Salad 18
Bars in the National School Lunch Program’, in 19
light of any recommendations contained in the re-20
port. 21
‘‘(6) D
EFINITIONS.—In this subsection: 22
‘‘(A) D
URABLE EQUIPMENT .—The term 23
‘durable equipment’ means durable food prepa-24
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ration, handling, cooking, serving, and storage 1
equipment greater than $500 in value. 2
‘‘(B) E
LIGIBLE ENTITY.—The term ‘eligi-3
ble entity’ means— 4
‘‘(i) a school; or 5
‘‘(ii) a school food authority. 6
‘‘(C) F
OOD DESERT.—The term ‘food 7
desert’ means a census tract with a substantial 8
share of residents who live in low-income areas 9
that have low levels of access to a grocery store 10
or a healthy, affordable food retail outlet.’’. 11
SEC. 4. PROHIBITION ON NEW APPROPRIATIONS. 12
No additional funds are authorized to be appro-13
priated to carry out this Act and the amendments made 14
by this Act, and this Act and such amendments shall be 15
carried out using amounts otherwise made available for 16
such purposes. 17
Æ
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