Kids across the country are routinely skipping lunch or rushing through recess without eating enough, and there is currently no federal guideline dictating how much time schools must set aside for students to actually sit down and eat. U.S. Reps. Kim Schrier of Washington and Suzanne Bonamici of Oregon want to change that gap in federal policy, reintroducing a bill called the Healthy Meal Time Act aimed at giving public school students adequate time to eat and play during the school day.
According to FoodService Director, the bill would direct the U.S. Department of Agriculture, with input from the U.S. Department of Education, to create a study examining best practices around meal and recess timing. As NPI's Cascadia Advocate reports, the legislation would amend the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act and direct the USDA and Department of Education to conduct a national study and distribute evidence-based best practices to school districts. The bill was introduced for Schrier and Bonamici and referred to the House Committee on Education and Workforce, per a record from GovInfo.
No Federal Floor for Lunch Time
Right now, nothing in federal policy specifies how long a school lunch period must be, even though the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends at least 20 minutes of seated lunch time each day, the FoodService Director report notes. The proposed study would factor in time spent on non-eating activities, as well as the time it takes kids to eat minimally processed and unprocessed foods, according to the same report.
Schrier, a pediatrician who represents Washington's 8th Congressional District, said students will often skip lunch and rush to recess without eating enough. Speaking as both a doctor and a parent, she said she has seen firsthand how little time some kids actually get to eat. Bonamici, who represents Oregon's 1st District, said insufficient food or time to eat limits learning, according to the Cascadia Advocate's reporting.
What the Task Force Would Do
Under the bill, the Secretary of Agriculture would be required to establish a task force, in coordination with the Secretary of Education, within one year of enactment. That task force would have no more than five members, including one from a state educational agency and one from a school food authority, per the Cascadia Advocate. The task force would review research on meal and recess scheduling and develop best practices for lunch serving time, recess time, and lunch-period duration meant to support student health and proper nutritional intake.
The task force's work wouldn't stop at the cafeteria line. It would also have to consider time students spend traveling from class, waiting in line, obtaining utensils and condiments, and clearing their trays — all the logistical friction that eats into actual eating time. Once the task force reports its best practices to the Secretary of Agriculture and Secretary of Education within a year of its formation, the Secretary would issue guidance based on those findings within another year, in coordination with the Secretary of Education.
The Research Behind the Push
The push for more lunch time has data behind it. A plate-waste study summarized by the University of California's Nutrition Policy Institute examined 7,027 meals across 20 elementary schools in four states and found that students with longer lunch periods and more seated time consumed more milk, fruit and whole grains. Most students whose lunch periods ran 20 minutes didn't even meet the CDC's own recommendation for seated eating time, according to the UCANR Nutrition Policy Institute summary.
The same research found that students at higher-poverty Community Eligibility Provision schools had less time to eat and consumed less fruit compared with students at higher-income schools — an inequity the study's authors say strengthens the case for lunch periods longer than 20 minutes. Under current federal rules, the National School Lunch Program already specifies what has to be on students' trays, including fruits, vegetables, grain, meat or alternatives, and milk, but leaves the actual time to eat those items up to state and local school administrators to decide.
Washington's Own Rule Already in Motion
Washington state isn't waiting on Congress. Under Washington Administrative Code, schools must provide students in kindergarten through fifth grade the opportunity to eat lunch for at least 20 minutes after they've received their food through the meal service line, starting in the 2029–30 school year. State law also separately requires public elementary schools to provide at least 30 minutes of daily recess for grades K–5, and grade 6 when housed in an elementary school, on school days longer than five hours. Washington law prohibits withholding recess as discipline or as a way to force kids to finish unfinished classwork, and the state recommends scheduling recess before lunch.
The Healthy Meal Time Act is backed by the National Education Association, the Center for Science in the Public Interest, the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, and the School Nutrition Association, according to the Cascadia Advocate's report. Tamara Randall said children need adequate time to eat and benefit from nutritious school meals, per the same account. Schrier, who entered electoral politics in 2017 and won her seat in a closely watched 2018 midterm race after roughly 17 years practicing pediatrics in Oregon and Washington, visited Snoqualmie Elementary on October 19 as part of her push on the issue.
