II 

113TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 274 

To strengthen nutrition education for elementary school and secondary school 

students to promote healthy eating choices through developmentally appropriate lessons and activities integrated into the school day. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

FEBRUARY 11, 2013 

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

referred to the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry 

A BILL 

To strengthen nutrition education for elementary school and 

secondary school students to promote healthy eating 

choices through developmentally appropriate lessons and 

activities integrated into the school day. 

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 ‘‘Children Eating Well 

5 Act’’ or the ‘‘CHEW Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 

7 In this Act: 


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1 (1) ESEA TERMS.—The terms ‘‘elementary 

2 school’’, ‘‘local educational agency’’, ‘‘secondary 

3 school’’, and ‘‘State educational agency’’ have the 

4 meanings given the terms in section 9101 of the Ele5 mentary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 

6 U.S.C. 7801). 

7 (2) PROGRAMS TO PROMOTE HEALTHY EATING

8 AND NUTRITION EDUCATION.—The term ‘‘programs 

9 to promote healthy eating and nutrition edu10 cation’’— 

11 (A) means programs that— 

12 (i) increase a student’s ability to rec13 ognize, choose, and consume healthy foods; 

14 (ii) comprehensively reflect the num15 ber of influences on healthy eating that im16 pact a student; 

17 (iii) provide the education a student 

18 will need to make healthy eating decisions 

19 as an adult; and 

20 (iv) use— 

21 (I) nutritional materials and 

22 methods that are scientifically sound 

23 and developmentally appropriate; and 

24 (II) nutritional materials that are 

25 supported by the most recent Dietary 


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1 Guidelines for Americans published 

2 under section 301 of the National Nu3 trition Monitoring and Related Re4 search Act of 1990 (7 U.S.C. 5341); 

5 and 

6 (B) includes professional development pro7 grams for teachers, school staff, and food serv8 ice workers to allow them to teach healthy eat9 ing and nutrition effectively and to promote a 

10 healthy school culture. 

11 SEC. 3. PROGRAMS TO PROMOTE HEALTHY EATING AND 

12 NUTRITION EDUCATION. 

13 (a) LOCAL EDUCATIONAL AGENCY REQUIRE14 MENTS.— 

15 (1) IN GENERAL.—Each local educational agen16 cy that receives assistance under part A of title I of 

17 the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 

18 1965 (20 U.S.C. 6311 et seq.) shall, as a condition 

19 of receiving such assistance— 

20 (A) develop and implement programs to 

21 promote healthy eating and nutrition education 

22 for all schools served by the local educational 

23 agency, which may include— 

24 (i) integrating programs to promote 

25 healthy eating and nutrition education into 


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1 various times of the school day and loca2 tions within schools; 

3 (ii) the use and distribution of edu4 cational materials, lessons, programs, and 

5 other activities that emphasize— 

6 (I) knowledge and appreciation of 

7 a variety of healthy foods, particularly 

8 fresh fruits and vegetables; 

9 (II) a balanced approach to a 

10 healthy diet and lifestyle; 

11 (III) the integration of healthy 

12 eating with physical activity to maxi13 mize health; and 

14 (iii) a variety of healthy eating and 

15 wellness activities that improve student 

16 knowledge and skills related to healthy eat17 ing and nutrition and do not emphasize 

18 child weight or weight loss; and 

19 (B) periodically monitor schools’ efforts in 

20 improving nutrition understanding and healthy 

21 eating among students. 

22 (2) DEVELOPMENT.—A local educational agen23 cy subject to paragraph (1) shall consult multiple 

24 viewpoints in developing and implementing programs 


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1 to promote healthy eating and nutrition education, 

2 which may include— 

3 (A) consulting with families, students, 

4 school officials, and other interested community 

5 members in order to develop programs to pro6 mote healthy eating and nutrition education; 

7 (B) working with organizations with nutri8 tion education expertise, such as institutions of 

9 higher education, hospitals, cooperative exten10 sion offices, State and local health departments, 

11 the Society for Nutrition Education and Behav12 ior, community organizations, farm groups, and 

13 others, for guidance in developing the programs 

14 to promote healthy eating and nutrition edu15 cation and for assistance in implementing and 

16 evaluating such programs; 

17 (C) working with applicable government 

18 authorities, including Team Nutrition of the 

19 Food and Nutrition Service of the Department 

20 of Agriculture and State agencies delivering 

21 services under the nutrition education and obe22 sity prevention grant program established under 

23 section 28 of the Food and Nutrition Act of 

24 2008 (7 U.S.C. 2036a), for technical assistance 


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1 in designing programs to promote healthy eat2 ing and nutrition education for the schools; 

3 (D) working with district and school 

4 wellness councils or other school health advisory 

5 groups in developing, implementing, and evalu6 ating programs to promote healthy eating and 

7 nutrition education; 

8 (E) integrating programs to promote 

9 healthy eating and nutrition education with the 

10 local school wellness policy required under sec11 tion 9A of the Richard B. Russell National 

12 School Lunch Act (42 U.S.C. 1758b); and 

13 (F) providing professional development 

14 that includes nutrition education to staff mem15 bers of the local educational agency. 

16 (b) STATE REQUIREMENTS.—Each State educational 

17 agency receiving assistance under part A of title I of the 

18 Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 

19 U.S.C. 6311 et seq.) shall submit to the Secretary of Edu20 cation a periodic report regarding programs to promote 

21 healthy eating and nutrition education in the State that 

22 includes a summary of the nutrition education monitoring 

23 data collected from each local educational agency under 

24 subsection (a)(1)(B). 


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1 (c) TASK FORCE.—The Secretary of Education, Sec2 retary of Agriculture, and the Secretary of Health and 

3 Human Services shall establish an inter-agency task force 

4 to review nutrition education curricula and recommend ef5 fective nutrition education programs for elementary 

6 schools and secondary schools. 

7 (d) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There is 

8 authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section 

9 such sums as may be necessary for each of fiscal years 

10 2014 through 2019. 

Æ 


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