I 

111TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 5027 

To direct the Secretary of Agriculture to assess the effectiveness and efficiency 

of administrative review systems to ensure compliance with Federal meal 

standards. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

APRIL 14, 2010 

Mr. TONKO (for himself, Mr. GRIJALVA, Ms. FUDGE, and Ms. RICHARDSON) 

introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on 

Education and Labor 

A BILL 

To direct the Secretary of Agriculture to assess the effectiveness and efficiency of administrative review systems to 

ensure compliance with Federal meal standards. 

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 ‘‘Eating Healthy at 

5 School Act of 2010’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress finds the following: 

8 (1) Information about school meal quality is 

9 vital to maximizing the national investment in the 


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1 school meal programs established under the Richard 

2 B. Russell National School Lunch Act (42 U.S.C. 

3 1751 et seq.) and section 4 of the Child Nutrition 

4 Act of 1966 (42 U.S.C. 1773) and for measuring 

5 the effectiveness of and compliance with Federal 

6 school meal standards. 

7 (2) Assessing compliance with Federal school 

8 meal standards will enhance child health and the nu9 tritional quality of school meals, contribute to nutri10 tion research and evaluation of the school meal pro11 grams, and improve oversight of the school meal 

12 programs. 

13 (3) According to the School Nutrition Dietary 

14 Assessment Study-III of the school meals served 

15 under the school meal programs in school year 

16 2004–2005, the majority of schools offered break17 fasts and lunches that met the standards for the rec18 ommended daily intake of key nutrients, such as vi19 tamins A and C, calcium, protein, and iron, but that 

20 the majority of school lunches were still too high in 

21 fat, saturated fat, and sodium. 

22 (4) Reviews of the nutritional quality of school 

23 meals under the school meals initiative for healthy 

24 children (60 Fed. Reg. 31188 (1995)) assess only 

25 the lunches served in 1 school per school food auVerDate Nov 24 2008 06:34 Apr 15, 2010 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5027.IH H5027

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1 thority every 5 years and do not include assessments 

2 of breakfasts served by schools participating in the 

3 school breakfast program established under section 4 

4 of the Child Nutrition Act of 1966 (42 U.S.C. 1773) 

5 or compliance with nutrition standards for foods sold 

6 in schools outside of the school meal programs. 

7 (5) Reviews of school meals under the school 

8 meals initiative for healthy children are laborious for 

9 State child nutrition programs and local school food 

10 authorities. Simplified, less burdensome, and more 

11 effective approaches are needed. 

12 (6) The Institute of Medicine recommends 

13 changes to school meals to reflect the most recent 

14 Dietary Guidelines for Americans published under 

15 section 301 of the National Nutrition Monitoring 

16 and Related Research Act of 1990 (7 U.S.C. 5341). 

17 The recommendations for new meal requirements in18 volve significant shifts in the approach of schools to 

19 menu planning and will likely require new mecha20 nisms for monitoring meal quality. 

21 (7) Food of poor nutritional value sold in 

22 schools outside of the school meal programs can un23 dermine the national investment in school meals. 


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1 (8) Gaps in Federal requirements for program 

2 integrity reviews limit the ability to identify and ad3 dress meal counting and claiming errors. 

4 (9) Program integrity reviews are not required 

5 for the school breakfast program. Twenty-one States 

6 reported to the Comptroller General of the United 

7 States that they do not review the school breakfast 

8 program. 

9 (10) The percentage of meal counting and 

10 claiming errors is higher in the school breakfast pro11 gram than in the school lunch program. 

12 SEC. 3. COMPLIANCE AND ACCOUNTABILITY STUDY. 

13 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of Agriculture shall 

14 conduct a study to— 

15 (1) assess the effectiveness and efficiency of ad16 ministrative review systems to ensure— 

17 (A) each local educational agency partici18 pating in the school lunch program established 

19 under the Richard B. Russell National School 

20 Lunch Act (42 U.S.C. 1751 et seq.) complies 

21 with the provisions of such Act, including the 

22 provisions with respect to nutrition, eligibility, 

23 meal counts, and claims for reimbursement; 

24 (B) each local educational agency partici25 pating in the school breakfast program estabVerDate Nov 24 2008 06:34 Apr 15, 2010 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5027.IH H5027

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1 lished under section 4 of the Child Nutrition 

2 Act of 1966 (42 U.S.C. 1773) complies with the 

3 provisions of such Act, including the provisions 

4 with respect to nutrition, eligibility, meal 

5 counts, and claims for reimbursement; and 

6 (C) each local educational agency described 

7 in subparagraphs (A) and (B) is accountable 

8 for the compliance described in such subpara9 graphs; 

10 (2) design and test alternative processes and 

11 procedures that may improve the effectiveness and 

12 efficiency of the administrative review systems de13 scribed in paragraph (1), and determine the optimal 

14 frequency for carrying out reviews under such sys15 tems; and 

16 (3) identify any alternative processes and proce17 dures for establishing a more effective and efficient 

18 administrative review system which— 

19 (A) reflect the results of tests of alter20 native processes and procedures conducted pur21 suant to paragraph (2); and 

22 (B) consider the practicality of imple23 menting such alternative processes and proce24 dures, including the cost and burden of imple25 mentation that would be imposed on local 


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1 school food authorities, local educational agen2 cies, and State educational agencies. 

3 (b) REPORT.—Not later than 3 years after the date 

4 of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Agriculture 

5 shall submit to the Committee on Education and Labor 

6 of the House of Representatives and the Committee on 

7 Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry of the Senate, a re8 port that describes the results and recommendations of the 

9 study conducted pursuant to subsection (a). 

10 (c) REGULATIONS.—The Secretary of Agriculture 

11 may prescribe regulations as may be necessary to imple12 ment the processes or procedures identified pursuant to 

13 subsection (a)(3) for establishing an effective and efficient 

14 administrative review system. 

15 (d) FUNDING.— 

16 (1) IN GENERAL.—Upon the date of the enact17 ment of this Act, out of any funds in the Treasury 

18 not otherwise appropriated, the Secretary of the 

19 Treasury shall transfer to the Secretary of Agri20 culture $3,500,000 to carry out this section, to re21 main available until expended. 

22 (2) RECEIPT AND ACCEPTANCE.—The Sec23 retary of Agriculture shall be entitled to receive, 

24 shall accept, and shall use to carry out this section 


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1 the funds transferred under paragraph (1), without 

2 further appropriation. 

Æ 


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