The State of School Lunch in California

An analysis of California's largest school districts reveals a significant misalignment between school lunch menus and public health and climate goals, with 94% of entrées featuring animal protein and only 4% being plant-based. The report highlights how the USDA Foods program subsidizes industrial meat and dairy, benefiting large conglomerates like Tyson Foods and incentivizing carbon-intensive menus. It advocates for structural changes, including the expansion of the Farm to School Grant Program, to transition toward plant-forward, organic, and regenerative food systems to improve student health and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

• The vast majority of school lunch entrées in California are animal-protein based, with a small fraction being plant-based, which contradicts public health and climate goals.
• The USDA Foods program incentivizes the use of industrial animal products by providing them at highly subsidized prices, making it difficult for sustainable plant-based proteins to compete.
• A small number of large meat and dairy corporations dominate the USDA Foods market; specifically, Tyson Foods provides 44% of all USDA Foods poultry purchased by California schools.
• Industrial animal agriculture, primarily through Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations (CAFOs), contributes to climate change, water pollution, and public health risks such as antibiotic-resistant pathogens.
• The report identifies a nutritional divide where low-income students and students of color are at higher risk for obesity and diabetes, a situation exacerbated by the frequent offering of processed meats in schools.
• California has taken a step toward improving school food systems by establishing a Farm to School Grant Program, though the report notes different funding figures of $8.5 million and $10 million.

APA

Kraus-Polk, J., & Hamerschlag, K. (2021). The State of School Lunch in California. Friends of the Earth. https://foe.org/resources/the-state-of-school-lunch-in-california/

Chicago

Kraus-Polk, Julian, and Kari Hamerschlag. The State of School Lunch in California. Friends of the Earth, 2021. https://foe.org/resources/the-state-of-school-lunch-in-california/.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Kraus-Polk |first1=Julian |last2=Hamerschlag |first2=Kari |title=The State of School Lunch in California |publisher=Friends of the Earth |date=10 March 2021 |url=https://foe.org/resources/the-state-of-school-lunch-in-california/ |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{krauspolk2021state, author = {Kraus-Polk, Julian and Hamerschlag, Kari}, title = {{The State of School Lunch in California}}, institution = {Friends of the Earth}, year = {2021}, month = mar, url = {https://foe.org/resources/the-state-of-school-lunch-in-california/}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }