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Senate Ag Committee pushed to buy American food for schools

A representative of the food processing industry is encouraging lawmakers to source food for schools domestically.

Kay Rentzel, Executive Director of the Southeastern Food Processors Association, National Peach Council, and U.S. Sweet Potato Council, testified during Wednesday’s U.S. Senate Ag subcommittee hearing on how a buy American provision guarantees students have access to the safest food possible.

“To say that imported foods that might be underpriced are able to be a part of this program, but not maintain the quality that we expect of our own American growers, it would be a slap in the face to them,” she says.

She says program requirements should also allow frozen and canned food options because the school year does not align with the growing season.

“It’s undeniable that the programs favoring fresh only options actually harm many farmers and inadvertently incentivize, if not subsidized, foreign food imports,” she says.

“This dynamic is one of the key factors behind the United States becoming a net food importer.”

The American Food for American Schools Act has bipartisan support in both the U.S. Senate and House and is supported by the American Farm Bureau Federation, American Fruit and Vegetable Processors and Growers Coalition, and others.