Giant chicken contract ‘test case’ for LAUSD’s new food guidelines
It appears that the LA Unified school board is headed for a showdown with the giant chicken industry.
As the second largest school district in the nation, LA Unified has traditionally been one of the largest purchasers of chicken in the country but in late 2014 adopted much stricter guidelines for the food it buys.
The “Good Food’ resolution requires vendors to adhere to tougher standards when it comes to the quality of food and how companies treat animals, workers and the environment. The district’s 5-year, $754 million contract with its major food vendors is expiring this spring, and it has already renegotiated contracts with its beef, dairy, produce, bread and other major vendors. The chicken contract is still open.
The chicken industry, more than any other, has proven difficult to negotiate with under the district’s new guidelines, said LA Unified school board President Steve Zimmer, author of the Good Food resolution. A new chicken contract is scheduled to be presented to the board at its Feb. 9 meeting.
“The chicken contract has been a matter of sincere debate because in the industry right now, frankly, it is very hard to find producers and processors who can produce at the level that we need in this district to get the bid under the federal guidelines and also meet our food procurement policies,” Zimmer told LA School Report.
The contracts are negotiated by the district’s Procurement Services Division and then Giant chicken contract 'test case' for LAUSD's new food guidelines - LA School Report: