Addressing Digestive Distress in Stomachs of Our Youth Act

Addressing Digestive Distress in Stomachs of Our Youth Act or the ADD SOY Act

This bill requires schools to substitute a nondairy beverage for fluid milk in the National School Lunch Program upon the request of a student or their parent or guardian. Under current law, schools participating in the program may provide a substitute at the request of a medical authority or the student's parent or guardian.

The bill also removes current requirements that (1) the substitute request be based on an identified medical or other special dietary need that restricts the student's diet, and (2) the school food authority pay for any additional expenses resulting from providing the substitute that exceed the covered reimbursement amounts.

[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 2943 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

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118th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                S. 2943

 To amend the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act to require 
schools to provide fluid milk substitutes upon request of a student or 
    the parent or guardian of such student, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

           September 27 (legislative day, September 22), 2023

 Mr. Fetterman (for himself, Mr. Kennedy, Mr. Booker, and Mr. Wicker) 
introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the 
           Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To amend the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act to require 
schools to provide fluid milk substitutes upon request of a student or 
    the parent or guardian of such student, and for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Addressing Digestive Distress in 
Stomachs of Our Youth Act'' or the ``ADD SOY Act''.

SEC. 2. FLUID MILK SUBSTITUTES.

    Section 9(a)(2)(B) of the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch 
Act (42 U.S.C. 1758(a)(2)(B)) is amended--
            (1) in clause (i)--
                    (A) by striking ``may'' and inserting ``shall'';
                    (B) by striking ``and meets'' and inserting ``as 
                determined by the most recent Dietary Guidelines for 
                Americans published under section 301 of the National 
                Nutrition Monitoring and Related Research Act of 1990 
                (7 U.S.C. 5341) or that meets''; and
                    (C) by striking ``for students who cannot consume 
                fluid milk because of a medical or other special 
                dietary need other than a disability described in 
                subparagraph (A)(iii)'';
            (2) in clause (ii)--
                    (A) by striking ``may'' and inserting ``shall'';
                    (B) by striking ``the school notifies the State 
                agency'' and all that follows through ``if the 
                substitution is'';
                    (C) by striking ``by written statement of a medical 
                authority or'';
                    (D) by inserting ``student or a'' after ``by a''; 
                and
                    (E) by striking ``that identifies the medical or 
                other special dietary need that restricts the student's 
                diet''; and
            (3) by striking clause (iii).
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