Education

Bill Would Give Pizza Retailers Larger Slice of School-Lunch

September 04, 1991 2 min read
  • Save to favorites
  • Print

A measure making its way through the Congress would enable pizza retailers to gobble up a larger slice of the lucrative school-lunch market.

The bill, which was approved by the full House this summer, would allow the Department of Agriculture, which administers the national school-lunch program, to exempt freshly made, meat-topped pizzas from certain federal meat-inspection rules.

Should the department decide to grant the exemption, it would be a boon to such pizza giants as Pizza Hut and Domino’s, which have provided freshly made cheese and vegetarian pizzas to school cafeterias for about 18 months.

Pizza Hut currently serves pizza in about 1,500 schools nationwide, and would be able to expand to more sites if allowed to include pepperoni and sausage on the slices, said Larry Whitt, a company spokesman.

Industry officials said that schools each year serve more than $400 million worth of frozen pizzas, which are exempt from the rule. Although similar data about the freshly made pizza market are unavailable, dairy industry officials estimate that, if the rule is waived, sales of mozzarella cheese would climb by about $140 million annually.

Final Inspection at Issue

At issue is a rule that requires fresh foods made by outside vendors that contain more than 2 percent meat by weight to be inspected by health officials before they can be served in school meals. Industry officials contend that this requirement makes the cost of providing meat-topped pizzas to schools too expensive.

They also argue that this final inspection is unnecessary, since the meat is already inspected twice--first at the slaughter house, and again at the processing plant--before it is placed on the pizza.

“This is a very outdated law,” Mr. Whitt said. “There is absolutely no issue of food safety.”

He noted that other freshly made products containing meat, such as sandwiches, are exempted from this rule.

But Rodney Leonard, the executive director of the Community Nutrition Institute, a Washington-based advocacy group, said freshly made products need this final inspection to ensure they meet health standards.

“It’s not how many times you inspect the meat,” he said. “It’s whether you inspect the product.”

“The question is, ‘Are you producing a product that is wholesome and not a threat to children at school?’” he said.

The measure was proposed by Representative Dan Glickman, Democrat of Kansas, whose district includes the corporate headquarters of Pizza Hut. The Senate is expected to act on a similar measure when it returns from its summer break.

Related Tags:

A version of this article appeared in the September 04, 1991 edition of Education Week as Bill Would Give Pizza Retailers Larger Slice of School-Lunch

Events

Jobs Virtual Career Fair for Teachers and K-12 Staff
Find teaching jobs and other jobs in K-12 education at the EdWeek Top School Jobs virtual career fair.
Ed-Tech Policy Webinar Artificial Intelligence in Practice: Building a Roadmap for AI Use in Schools
AI in education: game-changer or classroom chaos? Join our webinar & learn how to navigate this evolving tech responsibly.
Education Webinar Developing and Executing Impactful Research Campaigns to Fuel Your Ed Marketing Strategy 
Develop impactful research campaigns to fuel your marketing. Join the EdWeek Research Center for a webinar with actionable take-aways for companies who sell to K-12 districts.

EdWeek Top School Jobs

Teacher Jobs
Search over ten thousand teaching jobs nationwide — elementary, middle, high school and more.
View Jobs
Principal Jobs
Find hundreds of jobs for principals, assistant principals, and other school leadership roles.
View Jobs
Administrator Jobs
Over a thousand district-level jobs: superintendents, directors, more.
View Jobs
Support Staff Jobs
Search thousands of jobs, from paraprofessionals to counselors and more.
View Jobs

Read Next

Education Briefly Stated: March 13, 2024
Here's a look at some recent Education Week articles you may have missed.
9 min read
Education Briefly Stated: February 21, 2024
Here's a look at some recent Education Week articles you may have missed.
8 min read
Education Briefly Stated: February 7, 2024
Here's a look at some recent Education Week articles you may have missed.
8 min read
Education Briefly Stated: January 31, 2024
Here's a look at some recent Education Week articles you may have missed.
9 min read