Require schools to publish transparent weekly food menus
The Issue
Fast food chains (like McDonald's) are required by federal law to disclose more about what's in their food than most schools are. That gap is the problem this petition asks your school to close.
The gap
Since 2018, federal law has required chains with 20+ locations to post calories on the menu and provide full nutrition info on request. Many go further and publish full ingredient lists online. No comparable law exists for schools. Public schools must meet USDA nutrition floors, but none require item-level disclosure of added sugars, dyes, preservatives, or fat content. Private schools have even less obligation — they fall outside USDA rules entirely. In both cases, food is usually made by a third-party contractor whose formulas aren't published for parents.
The result
A parent can look up a restaurant chain's full ingredient list before ever ordering, but often can't find out what's in their child's school entrée. This petition asks schools to disclose what they already know, the way restaurants already must.
Disclosure works
Public disclosure has repeatedly improved food quality — not new bans, just visibility. When the FDA began requiring trans fat to be listed on nutrition labels in 2006 (trans fat raises LDL "bad" cholesterol and increases heart disease risk), manufacturers reformulated products years ahead of any ban; trans fat intake fell roughly 75% before a formal phase-out even took effect. A similar pattern played out in Chile: after a 2016 law required warning labels on packaged foods high in sugar, sodium, or saturated fat, the share of products needing a warning label dropped from 71% to 53% within a few years, and households bought over 20% less sugar and sodium from those products. In both cases, visibility drove the change before any product was banned.
Asking directly doesn't work either
When parents do try to get this information, they often hit real barriers: nothing posted online, weeks-long waits for a response, an in-person appointment required, or a binder of nutrition sheets that doesn't line up with what's actually on that week's menu. For a working parent, "just ask" is not a realistic substitute for public disclosure.
Why this matters for kids
Kids are not small adults. Childhood is a building period — for metabolism, taste preferences, and eating habits that carry into adulthood. School food, often eaten five days a week for a decade, shapes that development. Parents already decide what's on the plate at home; we're asking to see what's on the plate at school too.
What we're asking for
We ask schools and school meal vendors to publish weekly menus in advance, with item-level disclosure of added sugars, artificial dyes, preservatives, saturated/unsaturated fat, lab-grown meat identifiers and basic nutrition information (calories, protein, carbs, fiber, sodium) — for every item served.
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The Issue
Fast food chains (like McDonald's) are required by federal law to disclose more about what's in their food than most schools are. That gap is the problem this petition asks your school to close.
The gap
Since 2018, federal law has required chains with 20+ locations to post calories on the menu and provide full nutrition info on request. Many go further and publish full ingredient lists online. No comparable law exists for schools. Public schools must meet USDA nutrition floors, but none require item-level disclosure of added sugars, dyes, preservatives, or fat content. Private schools have even less obligation — they fall outside USDA rules entirely. In both cases, food is usually made by a third-party contractor whose formulas aren't published for parents.
The result
A parent can look up a restaurant chain's full ingredient list before ever ordering, but often can't find out what's in their child's school entrée. This petition asks schools to disclose what they already know, the way restaurants already must.
Disclosure works
Public disclosure has repeatedly improved food quality — not new bans, just visibility. When the FDA began requiring trans fat to be listed on nutrition labels in 2006 (trans fat raises LDL "bad" cholesterol and increases heart disease risk), manufacturers reformulated products years ahead of any ban; trans fat intake fell roughly 75% before a formal phase-out even took effect. A similar pattern played out in Chile: after a 2016 law required warning labels on packaged foods high in sugar, sodium, or saturated fat, the share of products needing a warning label dropped from 71% to 53% within a few years, and households bought over 20% less sugar and sodium from those products. In both cases, visibility drove the change before any product was banned.
Asking directly doesn't work either
When parents do try to get this information, they often hit real barriers: nothing posted online, weeks-long waits for a response, an in-person appointment required, or a binder of nutrition sheets that doesn't line up with what's actually on that week's menu. For a working parent, "just ask" is not a realistic substitute for public disclosure.
Why this matters for kids
Kids are not small adults. Childhood is a building period — for metabolism, taste preferences, and eating habits that carry into adulthood. School food, often eaten five days a week for a decade, shapes that development. Parents already decide what's on the plate at home; we're asking to see what's on the plate at school too.
What we're asking for
We ask schools and school meal vendors to publish weekly menus in advance, with item-level disclosure of added sugars, artificial dyes, preservatives, saturated/unsaturated fat, lab-grown meat identifiers and basic nutrition information (calories, protein, carbs, fiber, sodium) — for every item served.
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Petition created on June 15, 2026