II 

111TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1693 

To amend the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act to require 

the Secretary of Agriculture to ensure the safety of school meals by 

enhancing coordination with States and schools operating school meal 

programs in the case of a recall of contaminated food. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

SEPTEMBER 22, 2009 

Mrs. GILLIBRAND introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 

referred to the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry 

A BILL 

To amend the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch 

Act to require the Secretary of Agriculture to ensure 

the safety of school meals by enhancing coordination 

with States and schools operating school meal programs 

in the case of a recall of contaminated food. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Safe Food for Schools 

5 Act of 2009’’. 


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•S 1693 IS

1 SEC. 2. ENSURING SAFETY OF SCHOOL MEALS. 

2 The Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act 

3 is amended by inserting after section 22 (42 U.S.C. 

4 1769c) the following: 

5 ‘‘SEC. 23. ENSURING SAFETY OF SCHOOL MEALS. 

6 ‘‘(a) FOOD AND NUTRITION SERVICE.—Not later 

7 than 1 year after the date of enactment of the Safe Food 

8 for Schools Act of 2009, the Secretary, acting through the 

9 Administrator of the Food and Nutrition Service, shall— 

10 ‘‘(1) in consultation with the Administrator of 

11 the Agricultural Marketing Service and the Adminis12 trator of the Farm Service Agency, develop guide13 lines to determine the circumstances in which it is 

14 appropriate for the Secretary to institute an admin15 istrative hold on suspect commodities and products 

16 being used in school meal programs under this Act 

17 and the Child Nutrition Act of 1966 (42 U.S.C. 

18 1771 et seq.); 

19 ‘‘(2) work with States to explore ways for the 

20 States to increase the timeliness of notification of 

21 food recalls to schools and school food authorities; 

22 ‘‘(3) improve the timeliness and completeness of 

23 direct communication between the Food and Nutri24 tion Service and schools about holds and recalls, 

25 such as through the commodity alert system of the 

26 Food and Nutrition Service; 


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1 ‘‘(4) establish a timeframe in which the Food 

2 and Nutrition Service shall improve the commodity 

3 hold and recall procedures of the Department of Ag4 riculture to address the role of processors and deter5 mine the involvement of distributors with processed 

6 products, which may contain recalled ingredients, to 

7 facilitate the provision of more timely and complete 

8 information to schools; 

9 ‘‘(5) revise the procedures of the Food and Nu10 trition Service to provide States with more specific 

11 instructions for schools and school food authorities 

12 about how to dispose of recalled commodities and 

13 products and obtain timely reimbursement; and 

14 ‘‘(6) institute a systematic quality check proce15 dure to ensure that holds by the Food and Nutrition 

16 Service on commodities and products used by schools 

17 are carried out effectively. 

18 ‘‘(b) FOOD SAFETY AND INSPECTION SERVICE.—Not 

19 later than 1 year after the date of enactment of the Safe 

20 Food for Schools Act of 2009, the Secretary, acting 

21 through the Administrator of the Food Safety and Inspec22 tion Service, shall revise the procedures of the Food Safety 

23 and Inspection Service to ensure that schools are included 

24 in effectiveness checks.’’. 

Æ 


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