I 

111TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 4590 

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 HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

FEBRUARY 3, 2010 

Mr. SESTAK introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 

Committee on Education and Labor 

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 ‘‘School Meal Safety 

5 and Standards Act’’. 


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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 School Meal 

8 Safety and Standards Act, the Secretary, acting through 

9 the Administrator of the Food and Nutrition Service, the 

10 Administrator of the Agricultural Marketing Service, or 

11 the Administrator of the Farm Service Agency, as appro12 priate, shall— 

13 ‘‘(1) develop guidelines to determine the cir14 cumstances in which it is appropriate for the Sec15 retary to institute an administrative hold on suspect 

16 food and commodities being used in school meal pro17 grams under this Act and the Child Nutrition Act 

18 of 1966 (42 U.S.C. 1771 et seq.); 

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

20 States to improve the timeliness and completeness of 

21 notification of food and commodity holds and recalls 

22 to schools and school food authorities; 

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

24 notification of food and commodity holds and recalls 

25 by the Food and Nutrition Service to States, 

26 schools, and school food authorities, such as through 


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1 the commodity alert system of the Food and Nutri2 tion Service; 

3 ‘‘(4) establish a timeframe by when the Food 

4 and Nutrition Service shall improve the food and 

5 commodity hold and recall procedures of the Depart6 ment of Agriculture to— 

7 ‘‘(A) address the role of processors and de8 termine the involvement of distributors with 

9 processed products that may contain recalled 

10 ingredients; and 

11 ‘‘(B) facilitate the provision of more timely 

12 and accurate information to schools, States, 

13 and school food authorities; 

14 ‘‘(5) revise the procedures of the Food and Nu15 trition Service to provide States with more specific 

16 instructions for schools and school food authorities 

17 about how to dispose of recalled foods and commod18 ities and obtain timely reimbursement; 

19 ‘‘(6) institute a systematic quality check proce20 dure to ensure that holds and recalls by the Food 

21 and Nutrition Service on foods and commodities 

22 used by schools are carried out effectively; 

23 ‘‘(7) study existing commercial practices and 

24 standards regarding food quality, safety, and testing 

25 procedures and frequency; and 


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1 ‘‘(8) implement regulations that require the De2 partment of Agriculture to meet or exceed, with re3 spect to foods and commodities being used under the 

4 school meal programs, the commercial practices and 

5 standards studied pursuant to paragraph (7). 

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

7 later than 1 year after the date of enactment of the School 

8 Meal Safety and Standards Act, the Secretary, acting 

9 through the Administrator of the Food Safety and Inspec10 tion Service, shall revise the procedures of the Food Safety 

11 and Inspection Service to ensure that schools are included 

12 in effectiveness checks.’’. 

Æ 


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