By
- Laura Hancock, cleveland.com
Ohio -Two bills in the Ohio legislature would create statewide K-12 food literacy and nutrition learning standards for students in traditional public and charter schools
While some schools teach students about nutrition, there are no statewide standards specifying the nutrition content students need to know in each grade, according to the Children’s Hunger Alliance, a Columbus-based anti-hunger organization that is backing the Senate and House bills
Both Senate Bill 442 and House Bill 907 make teaching about food literacy and nutrition optional and allow parents to excuse their children from nutrition lessons
The bills would require the Ohio Department of Education and Workforce (DEW) to create those standards in similar but not identical ways
“It’s not an unfunded mandate,” said state Sen. Kent Smith, a Euclid Democrat who is sponsoring the Senate bill. “It’s a mandate of a statewide department to develop these standards. The general feeling is if you can have healthy child eaters, they can become healthy adults, teaching them food is fuel and diet is healthcare.”
The standards would include guidance on how to make informed healthy food choices, including how to prepare meals and how food is grown. The Senate bill requires DEW to work with the Ohio Department of Agriculture on content related to farming, production and availability of wholesome foods
Each bill received a first hearing in their chambers’ education committees on June 2
Rep. Ken Ritter, a Marietta Republican, testified that food and nutrition education will provide Ohio students insight into the state’s economy and teach self-sufficiency and responsibility
“In the era of Making America Healthy Again, I think it is important that we set nutritional standards for young people to follow,” he said, referring to the Trump administration Health and Human Services agenda under Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. “This is a good first step in that direction.”
Smith said he became interested in sponsoring the bill after hearing a presentation from the Children’s Hunger Alliance
In Ohio, one in five kids lives with food insecurity, meaning they don’t have access to enough food to survive. The nonprofit provides meals to hundreds of thousands of children, and it’s expanding a nutrition education program to support children’s food literacy, said Michelle Brown, the alliance’s president and CEO
When food education “is delivered alongside nutritious meals, children are less hungry and more able to focus and reach their full potential,” she said. “No child should have to worry about having enough food to eat.”
Currently, both chambers of the legislature are on a break. They are expected to return to Columbus in November, when Smith said he hopes the bills get more hearings
