H.R. 739 — Salad Bars in Schools Expansion Act

This section sets forth six congressional findings, including that one-third of U.S. school-aged children are overweight or obese; more than 30 million children participate daily in the National School Lunch Program (NSLP), with over 70% qualifying for free or reduced-price meals; school salad bars effectively increase fruit and vegetable consumption and help meet NSLP nutrition standards requiring daily fruits and vegetables, weekly vegetable variety, and at least one-half cup selected per lunch.

This section establishes a salad bar expansion program under the National School Lunch Program to promote salad bars in participating schools. The Secretary of Agriculture must, within 90 days of enactment, implement a marketing and communications plan that includes training and technical assistance—such as webinars, workshops, implementation resources, nutrition education, and parent engagement strategies—for eligible entities (schools or school food authorities) to install salad bars. The section further directs the Secretary to establish a competitive grant program under the plan through which eligible entities receive grants to provide schools one-time payments covering salad bar installation costs, including durable equipment (i.e., food preparation, handling, cooking, serving, and storage equipment valued over $500); grants prioritize entities serving schools where at least 50% of students are eligible for free or reduced-price lunches, schools in food deserts (i.e., low-income census tracts with limited access to healthy food retail), or schools providing nutrition education and terminate five years after enactment. Grantees must submit evaluations to the Secretary, who must submit a report to specified congressional committees within one year of enactment—including recommendations for more salad bars, nationwide salad bar counts, new salad bars from the plan, and grantee evaluations—and revise the March 27, 2013, salad bar policy memorandum (SP 31-2013) within 90 days after the report to reflect any recommendations.

This section prohibits new appropriations to carry out this Act and its amendments, requiring implementation using amounts otherwise available.