(Des Moines) A bill passed the Iowa House Wednesday that would require schools to forgo federal nutrition standards to instead prioritize Iowa-specific guidelines.
House Democrats, who opposed the bill, said in floor debate it makes Iowa students “guinea pigs” for unproven nutrition practices, while failing to address the number of students in the state who can’t afford lunch.
House File 851 would have the Iowa Department of Education apply for a waiver from federal nutrition guidelines to exempt Iowa school districts from grain and produce variation requirements and sodium limits in favor of nutritional standards that “align with Iowa’s dietary recommendations or cultural food practices.”
Supporters of the bill said federal nutrition guidelines are “out of date.”
Rep. Derek Wulf, R-Hudson, critiqued the past administration’s nutrition decisions and implementation of initiatives like “meatless Mondays.”
“We’re not making the kids of Iowa guinea pigs; D.C. has been making the kids of Iowa guinea pigs,” Wulf said. “Nobody knows nutrition and food better than us here. We’re the bread basket of America.”
Wulf said the bill puts “common sense nutrition knowledge” in place.
“Our kids are obviously not getting healthier in the past few years, so it’s time to do something drastically different,” he said.
Rep. Elinor Levin, D-Iowa City, said the bill tries to “redefine” local food by prioritizing “multinational corporations.”
“This bill is not about supporting Iowa’s small and independent farmers,” Levin said. “Instead, it serves the interests of powerful industry players, which are using this legislation to increase sales under the guise of promoting local agriculture, while actually perverting that definition.”
The bill notes specifically that Iowa students would be “better served” by regional nutrition guidelines, because federal guidelines do not “adequately address” Iowa’s “unique regional food sources” like corn, pork and dairy.
The bill would also prioritize animal-based proteins and dairy ahead of fruits and vegetables, which Rep. Austin Baeth, D-Des Moines, said is “flipping this evidence-based food pyramid on its head.”
“I’m very proud Iowan, but I believe that we should benefit from the science, the medical expertise, that has been gained over the decades of national and international studies as to what is the healthiest diet for kids, and not just give that all up for the sake of helping out part of the food industry,” Baeth, a physician, said.
Rep. Sami Scheetz, D-Cedar Rapids, said he worried the waiver would jeopardize federal funding for schools.
Scheetz cited part of federal code that states the U.S. secretary of agriculture cannot grant a waiver if it relates to “the nutritional content of meals served.”
Rep. Jeff Shipley, R-Fairfield, said the bill would benefit school nutrition staff who he said are “very frustrated” at having to “conform every single thing on their school menu to the whims of the bureaucracy.”
Shipley said the bill allows Iowans to step out from the “federal bureaucrats” that hold tax money “hostage.”
“The USDA is a big problem when it comes to school nutrition,” Shipley said. “And yeah, we appreciate their money, but the rules just don’t make sense, and they’re out of date and they’re obsolete … The people of Iowa deserve to set our own nutritional guidelines.”
Scheetz said it was “fundamentally wrong” to risk losing that funding for school lunches when many students cannot afford to eat lunch.
“If we want to have the discussion about school lunches in our state, let’s start by feeding our kids first,” Scheetz said.
Amendment clash
Scheetz introduced two amendments to the bill, which were defeated.
One amendment would have conditioned the bill’s implementation until Iowa had universal free lunch for its students.
“I think it’s critically important that we first ensure that every kid in this state will be eating a lunch before we start messing with what’s inside of it,” Scheetz said.
The other amendment called for a $3 million appropriation to fund a purchasing program for schools and food banks to buy from Iowa producers via the Choose Iowa program.
Choose Iowa, headed by the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship, has a pilot program with this purpose underway, but the amendment would have significantly grown the local food purchasing program.
Scheetz said it was especially important following an announcement in March that canceled the federal Local Food for Schools program, from which Iowa schools and food banks would have received an estimated $11.3 million over the next three years.
Wulf proposed an amendment to delay implementation of the nutrition guidelines until July 2026, which was adopted.
The bill passed with the one amendment on a vote of 60-36.
The Senate version of the bill has not yet been debated.
