Scratch Cooked Meals for Students Act

This bill would require the U.S. Secretary of Agriculture to set up, within 180 days, a pilot program giving competitive two-year grants to school food authorities to promote scratch cooking, meaning preparing meals from unprocessed or minimally processed ingredients. Grants could pay for staff training, kitchen equipment, extra employee pay, student taste tests and culinary education, and procurement software. Priority would go to school food authorities serving the most students eligible for free or reduced-price lunch that run their own food service and have or will negotiate a collective bargaining agreement with employees. Grant recipients would work with a nonprofit technical assistance center and report on changes in scratch-cooked menu items, and the bill authorizes $20 million per year for fiscal years 2027 through 2031.

Full text and official record on Congress.gov

Sponsors

• Jahana Hayes Democrat sponsor
• 11 cosponsors