Making Our Children Healthy Again: Scratch Cooking Is the Answer
September 11, 2025
The newly released “Make Our Children Healthy Again Strategy” provides recommendations to address chronic childhood diseases. Investing in school meals is the way to turn the tide.
This week, the Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) Commission released its Make Our Children Healthy Again Strategy, which leads with an opening statement that’s part of the Chef Ann Foundation DNA: “To turn the tide and better protect our children, the United States must act decisively.”
In 2009, Chef Ann Cooper courageously created a national nonprofit dedicated to reimagining school food. Over the past 15 years, Chef Ann Foundation has partnered with 16,000 school districts to serve nutritious meals to their students. The Chef Ann Foundation has proven solutions to transform the health of children in America.
“The MAHA Strategy report highlights several shared priorities – reducing reliance on ultra-processed foods, supporting local procurement, and ensuring students have access to real, whole foods at school,” said Chef Ann Foundation’s Chief Executive Officer, Mara Fleishman. “We have been leading a growing movement of school food professionals, educators, and parents working to build a future where all school kitchens have the infrastructure, funding, and workforce needed to make that possible.”
To date, 4.4 million children have more scratch-cooked meals and fewer ultra-processed foods in their schools because of our successful programs. School districts are leading the way in making children healthy again.
Here’s where the federal government can focus its resources:
| MAHA Strategy Report Recommendation | Chef Ann Foundation Solution |
|---|---|
| Nutrition Research & Ingredient Assessments National Institutes of Health will partner with the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), and the Administration for a Healthy America (AHA) to conduct high-quality nutrition research and ingredient assessments. |
Existing research shows that cooking from scratch with minimally processed ingredients allows kids to consume essential nutrients in their natural, more bioavailable form as part of a complex whole food; eat more fiber and protein; and consume fewer preservatives, fillers, food dyes, sodium, and added sugars. |
| Prioritize Use of Whole, Healthy Foods USDA will use its authorities to prioritize utilization and promotion of whole, healthy foods across its 16 nutrition programs. |
USDA should bolster their existing healthy school food resources, such as Team Nutrition and Farm-to-School, as well as restore local food purchasing programs and explore pilot opportunities that support existing healthy school food workforce development programs. |
| Prohibit Food Dyes FDA will continue to advance and implement policies to limit or prohibit the use of petroleum-based food dyes (Food, Drug, & Cosmetic certified colors) in all food products approved in the U.S. The USDA will apply the framework to food served through Federal nutrition programs, especially the school lunch program. |
Removing harmful dyes and additives represents progress toward improving children’s health, but banning specific ingredients won’t be enough in the long-term effort to shift school meals. Schools need support to invest in modern kitchen equipment, comprehensive staff training in culinary skills, and a higher reimbursement rate that allows districts to afford healthier, less processed ingredients. |
| Define "Ultra-Processed Food" USDA, Healthy & Human Services (HHS), and FDA will continue efforts to develop a U.S. government-wide definition for “Ultra-Processed Food” to support potential future research and policy activity. |
A government-wide definition for ultra-processed food is needed and must be actionable for school food programs, including considerations of nutrient density and resources for school food professionals to remove harmful ultra-processed foods from their menus. |
| Make Organic Certification More Accessible Streamline organic certification processes and reduce costs for small farms transitioning to organic practices. |
Streamlining certification while maintaining program integrity could be a big win for small and mid-sized farms, many of whom already meet or exceed USDA Organic certification requirements but lack the capital to apply, subsequently barring them from contracts that require certification. Lowering barriers to entry supports a more diversified grower base and increases access to values-aligned products for schools. |
| Improve Farm-to-School Grants Application Improve the farm-to-school grants application process to better connect local producers to schools. |
Making the application process easier will help more school food authorities and districts connect to local producers, strengthening regional food systems and improving access to fresh, locally grown foods for students. In addition, we should ensure that the Farm-to-School program addresses the unique needs and relationships within regional food systems. |
| Create the Administration for a Healthy America (AHA) HHS will undergo comprehensive reorganization to create the AHA, a new agency structure specifically designed to coordinate and lead the Federal government’s response to the chronic disease crisis through integrated prevention-focused programs and streamlined accountability for related programs. |
Adequate funding and staffing to the public agencies responsible for making the U.S. food system and American diets safer and healthier will be most essential to creating lasting change. |
| Campaign to Increase Physical Activity & Improve Nutrition USDA, HHS, ED, and the President's Council on Sports, Fitness, and Nutrition will work with States and schools across the country on a Make American Schools Healthy Again awareness campaign that provides tools to implement best practices such as increasing physical activity and improving nutrition options. |
Utilizing existing state and local healthy school food campaigns can help achieve education and awareness-building goals while recognizing the unique needs for individual communities. Campaigns such as Powered by School Food Professionals address the specific needs of the school food workforce and provide a workable solution for the MAHA Commission’s priorities around school food. |
| Community-Led Initiatives to Reduce Chronic Disease HHS will leverage available funding, as consistent with the statute, to drive community-led initiatives aimed at measurably reducing chronic disease in children. This might involve local school leadership promoting increased physical activity during the school day. In parallel, pediatric care teams could engage parents and students on the importance of healthy eating and nutrition education. Additionally, local health navigators could support family lifestyle changes. |
Local communities are the backbone of the American ingenuity engine. Empowering them with resources, access to funding, implementation support, and research can help communities across the country to reduce the chronic disease burden on our children. Established networks such as school wellness committees and local food policy councils should be supported as drivers of sustainable transformation for school food and other child wellness programs. |
| Update Dietary Guidelines for Americans USDA and HHS will update the 2025 - 2030 Dietary Guidelines for Americans (DGAs) which will align with science, data, and health recommendations in a concise, user-friendly format. USDA and HHS will further reform future DGA development processes, including structure and members of the advisory committee and scientific review of future DGAs. |
The Dietary Guidelines for Americans have already driven meaningful progress in the nutritional quality of school meals, including historic limits on added sugar and continued progress on targeted sodium reduction. In the 2025-2030 Guidelines, it is critical that these limits not only be maintained but strengthened to ensure every child has access to nutritious meals that support their health. |
The Commission states, “real transformation requires more than vision—it requires clarity.”
For the past 15 years, it has been clear that meaningful school food transformation takes political will. Healthier meals require investments in kitchen infrastructure, staff training, technical assistance, and reimbursement rates that reflect the reality of producing a scratch-cooked meal.
School food professionals, parents, and students have been paving the way for better food for decades. Now’s the time for the administration and Congress to act decisively and be wind at their backs. Together, we can ensure that every child in America has access to a freshly prepared, nourishing meal at school.
Want to learn more about ultra-processed foods in school food?
Join our free webinar, “Reducing Ultra-Processed Meals: The Next Chapter in School Food,” on September 17, 2025, from 1-2 p.m. ET.
We’ll focus on the overdependence of ultra-processed foods in school meals. We’ll examine the challenges they present and the opportunities to reduce their presence on trays.
