School nutrition programs_ The impact of tariffs on already high food costs has left school nutrition programs facing tough choices about how to provide healthy meals without breaking the budget. Even as the Trump administration is pushing to remove ultra-processed foods from school lunches, it has stopped funding for schools to buy locally grown foods during the pandemic.
Most, but not all, of the food that public school students eat is grown in the United States. The Trump administration’s tariffs will raise the cost of imported food and kitchen equipment, the School Nutrition Association (SNA) said, according to ABC News.
“Anything that can cause costs to go up for these underfunded programs is problematic for students and families,” said Diane Pratt-Heavner, a spokesperson for the SNA. “When school programs are limited, they have to make choices: how much choice to offer students, how much fresh produce to provide, and whether to invest in more expensive locally grown foods.”
Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rawlings said funding for locally grown food for schools was just one of many COVID programs that “never got canceled” but will now be eliminated. Rawlings said she could not guarantee that school meal programs would get more money to fill the funding gap. “We are doing everything we can to be the wisest use of taxpayer dollars and to ensure that kids at the bottom of the socioeconomic ladder have access to the most nutritious food they need,” Rawlings said.