BILL #    HB 2164

TITLE:     public schools; ultraprocessed foods

SPONSOR:    Biasiucci

STATUS:   As Amended by House ED

PREPARED BY:    Gordon Robertson

 

 

 

Description

 

The bill would prohibit a public school from selling ultraprocessed food on a school campus during the normal school day. The bill would also require the Arizona Department of Education (ADE) to post on their website a standard form that a public school may use to certify compliance with the bill's requirements, and to post a list of each public school that has certified such compliance. 

 

Estimated Impact

 

We estimate the bill would result in small administrative workload increases for ADE that could be absorbed by existing staff. The department estimates these workload increases would translate into an annual cost of approximately $1,500 annually from the General Fund to establish a certification form, track public school compliance, and maintain these postings on ADE's website. 

 

To the extent that a public school currently providing ultraprocessed foods may choose to replace those prohibited foods with alternatives, any marginal increases in food costs would be paid directly by the public school using its own resources.

 

Local Government Impact

 

The bill would prohibit a public school from selling foods containing any of 11 listed food preservatives and dyes. We lack sufficient information to estimate what proportion of school meals currently offered by public schools contain any of these 11 compounds and therefore cannot estimate in advance how many schools would be affected by the bill or how many meals within a given school would need to be replaced with alternative meal options.

 

To the extent that the bill would require a school to replace some or all of the meals served with options not containing any of the 11 prohibited compounds, we cannot estimate in advance the marginal increase or decrease in cost associated with the replaced meal. Any changes in school meal costs that do arise from the requirements of the bill would be paid by public schools using existing resources.

 

2/11/25