WASHINGTON, DC — U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown (D-OH) hosted a news conference call to discuss new legislation to ensure American tax dollars and American schools support American-made and American-grown food. The bipartisan American Food for American Schools Act would strengthen “Buy American” provisions, closing loopholes to require school districts to purchase domestically sourced products for in-school meals.
“The food our kids get at school should be American-produced food, that supports American jobs in our communities,” said Brown. “There’s no reason for schools to buy food products from overseas, when they could get fresh fruits and vegetables from Ohio farmers, and when union bakers and confectioners and other workers make bread and snacks and canned foods here in Ohio. Our bill would require schools to buy American products for all in-school meals, and ensure American tax dollars support American jobs.”
Brown was joined on the call by Bryn Bird, an Ohio family farmer in Granville, and Reggie Bennett, a worker at Country Pure Foods in Akron, which makes portioned and multi-serve juices, and member of Teamsters Local 348.
“We should make sure that we grow and process as much food as we can for our schools because it’s what’s best for our kids and certainly best for me and the people I work with. Creating more transparency and better enforcement for Buy American rules can expand the opportunity for more domestic food processing and that will help preserve and create jobs in my industry,” said Reggie Bennett.
“Our family farm knows when we sell at the corner at our local farmers market we are competing on a global scale. Consumers and buyers compare the price of our American grown produce with the price of a similar foreign grown and imported product,” said Bryn Bird, of Bird’s Haven Farms. “With over 53 percent of produce imported into the United States American workers at all layers of food industries such as transportation, processing and marketing are hurt. Directing US Tax Dollars through the American Food for American Schools Act to ‘buy American’ would bolster agriculture and give our family a more even playing field.”
The legislation has been endorsed by the International Brotherhood of Teamsters and the Ohio Farmers Union.
“The Teamsters are proud to endorse the American Food for American Schools Act. Food served at our nation’s schools should be grown and processed here in the United States to support good American jobs and ensure the highest safety standards,” said Teamsters General President Sean M. O’Brien. “We applaud Senators Brown and Braun for their leadership on this issue and look forward to working with them to enact this bill into law.”
The bipartisan American Food for American Schools Act would strengthen the “Buy American” provisions in current federal law requiring school districts to purchase domestically sourced products for all in-school meals. School districts would be required to obtain a waiver from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to purchase foreign-sourced food products funded by the National School Lunch Program. Any such USDA waivers would only be granted if the domestically produced food was cost-prohibitive or simply unavailable. The bill would also require that school districts notify parents of all foreign-sourced foods served to students, and require the USDA to publish online a listing of schools that have received “Buy American” waivers. This would increase public transparency and provide American farmers an opportunity to seek out school districts that need affordable domestically grown foods.
