[Congressional Bills 111th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 4590 Introduced in House (IH)]

111th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 4590

 To amend the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act to require 
 the Secretary of Agriculture to ensure the safety of school meals by 
 enhancing coordination with States and schools operating school meal 
         programs in the case of a recall of contaminated food.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            February 3, 2010

  Mr. Sestak 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 require 
 the Secretary of Agriculture to ensure the safety of school meals by 
 enhancing coordination with States and schools operating school meal 
         programs in the case of a recall of contaminated food.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``School Meal Safety and Standards 
Act''.

SEC. 2. ENSURING SAFETY OF SCHOOL MEALS.

    The Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act is amended by 
inserting after section 22 (42 U.S.C. 1769c) the following:

``SEC. 23. ENSURING SAFETY OF SCHOOL MEALS.

    ``(a) Food and Nutrition Service.--Not later than 1 year after the 
date of enactment of the School Meal Safety and Standards Act, the 
Secretary, acting through the Administrator of the Food and Nutrition 
Service, the Administrator of the Agricultural Marketing Service, or 
the Administrator of the Farm Service Agency, as appropriate, shall--
            ``(1) develop guidelines to determine the circumstances in 
        which it is appropriate for the Secretary to institute an 
        administrative hold on suspect food and commodities being used 
        in school meal programs under this Act and the Child Nutrition 
        Act of 1966 (42 U.S.C. 1771 et seq.);
            ``(2) work with States to explore ways for the States to 
        improve the timeliness and completeness of notification of food 
        and commodity holds and recalls to schools and school food 
        authorities;
            ``(3) improve the timeliness and completeness of 
        notification of food and commodity holds and recalls by the 
        Food and Nutrition Service to States, schools, and school food 
        authorities, such as through the commodity alert system of the 
        Food and Nutrition Service;
            ``(4) establish a timeframe by when the Food and Nutrition 
        Service shall improve the food and commodity hold and recall 
        procedures of the Department of Agriculture to--
                    ``(A) address the role of processors and determine 
                the involvement of distributors with processed products 
                that may contain recalled ingredients; and
                    ``(B) facilitate the provision of more timely and 
                accurate information to schools, States, and school 
                food authorities;
            ``(5) revise the procedures of the Food and Nutrition 
        Service to provide States with more specific instructions for 
        schools and school food authorities about how to dispose of 
        recalled foods and commodities and obtain timely reimbursement;
            ``(6) institute a systematic quality check procedure to 
        ensure that holds and recalls by the Food and Nutrition Service 
        on foods and commodities used by schools are carried out 
        effectively;
            ``(7) study existing commercial practices and standards 
        regarding food quality, safety, and testing procedures and 
        frequency; and
            ``(8) implement regulations that require the Department of 
        Agriculture to meet or exceed, with respect to foods and 
        commodities being used under the school meal programs, the 
        commercial practices and standards studied pursuant to 
        paragraph (7).
    ``(b) Food Safety and Inspection Service.--Not later than 1 year 
after the date of enactment of the School Meal Safety and Standards 
Act, the Secretary, acting through the Administrator of the Food Safety 
and Inspection Service, shall revise the procedures of the Food Safety 
and Inspection Service to ensure that schools are included in 
effectiveness checks.''.
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