Pingree Introduces Bipartisan Bill to Make it Easier for Schools to Cook and Serve Fresh Food
Press Release
Congresswoman Chellie Pingree introduced a bipartisan bill today to help schools in Maine and around the country modernize and expand their kitchens. The bill would provide funding for schools that want to buy kitchen equipment and provide training on how to cook fresh meals from scratch. A national survey found that 88 percent of school districts need at least one piece of new kitchen equipment and 55 percent require infrastructure changes.
"Everyone I've met who works at a school lunch program wants to provide the best, freshest, healthiest meal possible for the students they serve. But they don't always have the equipment and facilities they need to do that. This bill will help give them the tools they need to cook fresh meals from scratch. School kitchens need more cutting boards and refrigerators and fewer microwaves and can openers," Pingree said.
The bill, called the School Food Modernization Act, was introduced today by Pingree and Representatives Lou Barletta (R-PA), Mark DeSaulnier (D-CA), and GT Thompson (R-PA). It would make permanent a temporary program that was created by the American Recovery Act that provides funding for schools to buy equipment to upgrade or modernize their kitchens. It also would provide training and technical assistance to school food service directors on how to cook from scratch and incorporate fresh fruits and vegetables into meals.
Under the temporary program that Pingree's bill would make permanent, Maine schools won tens of thousands of dollars in grants to upgrade their cooking facilities. RSU 13 in the Rockland area was awarded $14,000 for a new walk-in freezer and the Lake Region School District got $6,000 for new ovens.
Food service staff often cite a lack of fridges, ovens, knives, and cutting boards--and an overabundance of deep-fat fryers and microwaves--as barriers to meeting newnutritional standards for meals. Pingree's bill would help school systems address these problems.
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