§ 1769j — Ensuring Safety Of School Meals

(a) Not later than 1 year after December 13, 2010, the Secretary, acting through the Administrator of the Food and Nutrition Service, shall— (1) in consultation with the Administrator of the Agricultural Marketing Service and the Administrator of the Farm Service Agency, develop guidelines to determine the circumstances under which it is appropriate for the Secretary to institute an administrative hold on suspect foods purchased by the Secretary that are being used in school meal programs under this chapter and the Child Nutrition Act of 1966 (42 U.S.C. 1771 et seq.); (2) work with States to explore ways for the States to increase the timeliness of notification of food recalls to schools and school food authorities; (3) improve the timeliness and completeness of direct communication between the Food and Nutrition Service and States about holds and recalls, such as through the commodity alert system of the Food and Nutrition Service; and (4) establish a timeframe to improve the commodity hold and recall procedures of the Department of Agriculture to address the role of processors and determine the involvement of distributors with processed products that may contain recalled ingredients, to facilitate the provision of more timely and complete information to schools. (b) Not later than 1 year after December 13, 2010, the Secretary, acting through the Administrator of the Food Safety and Inspection Service, shall revise the procedures of the Food Safety and Inspection Service to ensure that schools are included in effectiveness checks.