School meals: nutritional requirements.

Existing law authorizes a school district, county superintendent of schools, child development program, local agency, private school, parochial school, or any other agency that qualifies for federal aid under specified federal school meal programs, to apply to the State Department of Education for all available federal and state funds so that a nutritionally adequate breakfast or lunch, or both, may be provided to pupils each schoolday at each school, as provided. Existing law describes a nutritionally adequate breakfast or lunch for this purpose as one that qualifies for reimbursement under the most current meal pattern for the federal School Breakfast Program or the federal National School Lunch Program. This bill would revise the sodium, grain, and sugar requirements for a nutritionally adequate breakfast or lunch to be more stringent than federal requirements, as provided. The bill, commencing with the 2022–23 school year, would set a tiered structure for reducing the sodium amount in breakfasts and lunches for these purposes over time, as provided, and would require the final sodium requirements, commencing with the 2030–31 school year, to be determined by the department in alignment with the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine's Dietary Reference Intakes for Sodium and Potassium. The bill, commencing with the 2022–23 school year, would require that the grains offered in a breakfast or lunch contain at least 50% whole grains and would require the remaining grain content to be enriched. The bill, commencing with the 2024–25 school year, would require that a breakfast or lunch meet, on average over the school week, requirements that the department develops that are consistent with the quantitative recommendations for limiting added sugars established pursuant to specified federal dietary guidelines.