Rollins, Kennedy hold school meals news event, but no new rule yet

Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins and Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. held an event on Monday on the USDA patio to promote Trump administration policies to improve school meals. They did not announce a new rule for school meals in line with the Trump administration’s Dietary Guidelines for Americans because the White House Office of Management and Budget had not released it. 

Rollins said a “Harvest to Hallways” initiative will include up to $70 million in school cafeteria infrastructure grants and up to $25 million in additional Farm to School Grants for fiscal year 2026. She also said USDA and HHS will urge greater state adoption of the Pledge for Healthier School Meals, which encourages updated nutrition practices aligned with the Dietary Guidelines for Americans 2025–2030 that can be implemented immediately. 

Kennedy also said HHS will invest $30 million in research to identify practical, cost-effective ways to improve the nutritional quality of school meals and help schools put healthier meals on students’ trays.

The proposed school meals rule will not go into effect for this school year, but Rollins later acknowledged to reporters that she had hoped to release the rule today. 

To an audience that USDA said included farmers, students, school nutrition leaders, athletes, chefs, and parents, Kennedy said the rule will require meals with reduced added sugar and less reliance on ultra-processed foods. Kennedy said it will require more whole grains and fruit rather than juice, and “put protein in the middle of the plate.”

USDA said in a news release the purpose of the event and the news conference was to “announce the next phase of the Trump administration’s work to Make America Healthy Again.” A series of speakers joined Kennedy and Rollins on the stage in the USDA patio. 

Kennedy said that Robert Irvine, a celebrity chef, has proven that people in the military can be fed healthy food for $10 per day. Irvine said that effort requires better preparation and more efficient use of resources.

But he added that the effort to achieve health among the troops begins “years earlier” when they are growing up. Irvine acknowledged that feeding people healthy food on a budget is “difficult,” but added “difficult does not mean impossible.”

Ben Carson, a former brain surgeon who is the nutrition adviser to Rollins, said that children need the right nutrition, exercise and hydration to become healthy adults. 

Calley Means, the nutrition adviser to Kennedy and President Trump, said that even though neither the school meals rule nor the ultra-processed foods definition have been cleared at OMB, the administration deserves credit for moving faster on nutrition policy than previous administrations. 

Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders, a Republican, said that her state has established free school breakfast and made free the lunches for which children are supposed to pay reduced prices. She also said the state is making sure Arkansas foods are used in the schools. 

Nebraska Gov. Jim Pillen, a Republican, commented on the development of ultra-processed food and Trump’s decision to allow more ground meat into the United States tariff-free for 90 days.