Letter to Tom Vilsack, Secretary U.S. Department of Agriculture - Velázquez Leads 21 Members of Congress in Letter to the Secretary of Agriculture on the Need to Include Plant-Based Meals for School Lunches

Letter

Dear Secretary Vilsack,

We are pleased to see that USDA is allocating $100M to create a new Healthy Food Incentive Fund as a part of your Food Systems Transformation framework announced in early June. As USDA shapes this program to meet the diverse needs of our nation's schools, we urge the agency to ensure that this initiative supports school districts in meeting the growing demand from students and their families for healthy, plant-based meal options. Specifically, we urge the Department of Agriculture to set aside $10 million from the Healthy Food Incentive Fund for a pilot program to support school districts in offering healthy, plant-based food options to students across the country. As cosponsors of the Healthy Future Students and Earth Pilot Program Act (H.R.4108), supported by more than 130 health, anti-hunger, racial justice, and environmental organizations, we encourage the Department of Agricultural to utilize the legislation as a model for the pilot program.
Currently, plant-based meal options are lacking in most school cafeterias. One study from California found that only 4% of entrees offered were plant-based.1 This limited number of school districts providing plant-based meals does not meet the growing demand from students who value the alternatives for health, environmental, philosophical, religious, or taste reasons. Students who follow plant-based diets often have no options to eat at school, and those who rely on free or reduced-price school lunches have limited options such as fruit, vegetables, or a peanut butter and jelly sandwich every day. The lack of plant-based options disproportionally hurts students of color since eight percent of African Americans are strictly vegan or vegetarian.2 We cannot provide healthy school meals equitably until we accommodate the many students who follow vegetarian and plant-based diets.
Despite growing demand and commendable efforts from food service operators, school districts struggle to meet the need for plant-based meals because of a lack of technical assistance, training, student nutrition education, and cost. The Healthy Future Students and Earth Pilot Program Act (H.R. 4108) addresses all these obstacles by providing funding for expenses associated with culinary staff training, technical assistance, procurement of plant-based sources of protein and milk from socially disadvantaged producers, marketing and student engagement, professional development and any additional labor costs incurred in preparing and serving plant- based options.
Focusing on increasing healthy, plant-based options in schools through this new Healthy Food Incentive Fund will help to foster greater alignment between k-12 menus and the Dietary Guidelines. USDA's 2021 School Nutrition and Meal Cost Study found that students were getting only between 51 and 66 percent of the recommended intake from fiber and that students participating in the National School Lunch Program were not getting more fiber than non- participants. The study highlighted that students generally ate around the recommended intake for protein but significantly less plant-based protein than recommended. Plant-based proteins like beans, lentils, and chickpeas are good sources of fiber and are under-consumed relative to DGA recommendations. Increasing the availability of these foods in entrees is an essential strategy for increasing fiber intake and is an important place for the Healthy Food Incentive Fund to focus, given that USDA does not have a fiber standard for school meals.
As your agency supports school food authorities in innovating and accelerating efforts to improve the nutritional quality of school meals for students, we encourage you to fully incorporate the Healthy Future Students and Earth Pilot Program Act in your plan. By designating $10 million from the Health Food Incentive Fund for a pilot program to serve plant- based meals in school, USDA would fully reach the intended goals of the new incentive fund. In addition, as our student population becomes increasingly racially and culturally diverse, schools must accommodate student needs by providing sufficient plant-based options. We share your commitment to providing healthy, nutritious, and culturally appropriate school meals to children across the country and believe that plant-based meals are essential to that goal. Thank you for your attention and full and fair consideration of this matter.

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