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Introduced January 24, 2025 by Frederica Wilson · Last progress January 24, 2025
Creates a USDA initiative to expand salad bars in schools that participate in the National School Lunch Program by funding marketing, training, technical assistance, and a competitive one‑time grant program to cover salad bar installation costs (including durable equipment). The Secretary must move quickly — launching a marketing plan and technical assistance within 90 days, reporting results within 1 year, and updating USDA guidance — and the grant program ends five years after enactment. The law bars any new or additional appropriations for these actions, so the initiative must be carried out using funds already available to USDA or other existing appropriations.
The bill expands access to healthier school meals by funding salad bars and support services—especially for low-income schools—but relies on one-time grants and reallocated funds, creating sustainability, equity, and funding-pressure risks for schools and other programs.
Students nationwide in participating schools will gain increased access to fresh fruits and vegetables through salad bars, supporting healthier meals and better child nutrition habits.
Schools serving higher shares of low-income students are prioritized for support, increasing equity by focusing resources where diet-related health disparities are greatest.
Schools can receive one-time payments to cover durable equipment costs (>$500), lowering the upfront capital barrier to installing salad bars.
Schools may face ongoing maintenance, replacement, staffing, and food-safety costs after the program's one-time payments end, threatening long-term sustainability and consistent salad bar variety.
Upfront and recurring costs (equipment, higher produce costs, staff time) could strain school food budgets or local resources, forcing trade-offs or additional local spending.
Limited, competitive grant funding may leave some schools—especially those without grant-writing capacity or local resources—without support, producing unequal access to salad bars.