I 
117TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 6608 
To amend the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act to establish 
a pilot program promoting scratch cooking in school meal programs. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
FEBRUARY 4, 2022 
Mrs. HAYES
(for herself, Ms. BROWNLEY, Mrs. MCBATH, and Mr. 
FITZPATRICK) 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 establish a pilot program promoting scratch cook-
ing in school meal programs. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Scratch Cooked Meals 
for Students Act’’. 
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SEC. 
2. 
PILOT 
PROGRAM 
FOR 
GRANTS 
PROMOTING 
SCRATCH COOKING IN SCHOOL MEAL PRO-
GRAMS. 
Section 18 of the Richard B. Russell National School 
Lunch Act (42 U.S.C. 1769) is amended by inserting be-
fore subsection (b) the following new subsection: 
‘‘(a) SCRATCH COOKING PILOT PROGRAM.— 
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.— 
‘‘(A) ESTABLISHMENT.—Not later than 
180 days after the date of the enactment of this 
subsection, the Secretary shall establish a pilot 
program to award competitive grants to school 
food authorities and local educational agencies 
to promote scratch cooking. 
‘‘(B) SCRATCH
COOKING
DEFINED.—In 
this subsection, the term ‘scratch cooking’ 
means the preparation of food using ingredients 
that are unprocessed or minimally processed. 
‘‘(2) GRANT
AMOUNTS
AND
DURATION.—A 
grant awarded under this subsection shall be 
made— 
‘‘(A) for a period of 2 school years; and 
‘‘(B) in 1 installment in the first school 
year and 1 installment in the second school 
year, with each such installment equal to or less 
than $100,000. 
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‘‘(3) ELIGIBLE USES.—A grant awarded under 
this subsection shall be used by a school food au-
thority or local educational agency to promote 
scratch cooking, which may include— 
‘‘(A) promoting professional development 
and training related to preparing, procuring, 
advertising, serving, and creating menus of 
meals made with scratch cooking; 
‘‘(B) purchasing cafeteria equipment or 
making infrastructure modifications necessary 
for scratch cooking; 
‘‘(C) employee compensation for additional 
food preparation necessary for scratch cooking; 
and 
‘‘(D) providing technical assistance, pupil 
engagement, and education related to scratch 
cooking, such as taste tests, recipe development, 
and culinary education. 
‘‘(4) PRIORITY.—In evaluating grant applica-
tions under this subsection, the Secretary shall give 
the highest priority to school food authorities and 
local educational agencies that— 
‘‘(A) serve the greatest proportion of stu-
dents eligible for free or reduced price lunch 
under this Act; 
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‘‘(B) are— 
‘‘(i) self-operated; or 
‘‘(ii) provide an assurance to the Sec-
retary that the school food authority or 
local educational agency will be self-oper-
ated on or before the date that is 1 year 
before the last day of the grant period; and 
‘‘(C) either— 
‘‘(i) have employees who are rep-
resented by a collective bargaining agree-
ment or memorandum of understanding; or 
‘‘(ii) provide an assurance to the Sec-
retary that the school food authority or 
local educational agency will, with respect 
to the employees of such school food au-
thority or local educational agency, nego-
tiate a collective bargaining agreement or 
memorandum of understanding on or be-
fore the date that is 1 year before the last 
day of the grant period. 
‘‘(5) TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE.— 
‘‘(A) IN
GENERAL.—The Secretary shall 
enter into an agreement with one or more non-
profit organizations to establish and carry out 
a technical assistance and resource center to 
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provide technical assistance with respect to car-
rying out subparagraphs (A) through (C) of 
paragraph (3). 
‘‘(B) COLLABORATION REQUIREMENT.—As 
soon as practicable after receiving a grant 
under this subsection, a school food authority 
or local educational agency shall collaborate 
with the technical assistance and resource cen-
ter established under subparagraph (A) to— 
‘‘(i) conduct a needs assessment to 
evaluate equipment needs, equipment utili-
zation, procurement processes, and work-
force capabilities of the school food author-
ity or local educational agency; and 
‘‘(ii) based on such needs assessment, 
establish a strategic plan to carry out the 
grant under this subsection. 
‘‘(6) REPORTING REQUIREMENTS.—Each school 
food authority and local educational agency that re-
ceives a grant under this subsection shall report to 
the Secretary at the end of the grant period— 
‘‘(A) the change, from the beginning of the 
grant period, in the overall percentage of the 20 
most expensive procurement items with whole 
ingredients, raw ingredients, or both; 
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‘‘(B) RESERVATIONS.—Of the amounts 
made available under subparagraph (A), the 
Secretary shall reserve— 
‘‘(i) not more than 15 percent for pur-
poses of carrying out paragraph (5), in-
cluding administrative expenses; and 
‘‘(ii) not more than 5 percent for 
other administrative expenses of the Sec-
retary.’’. 
Æ 
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