Lifestyle Sports: Latest from Food Politics: Weekend reading: Food education standards

By Marion Nestle

February 06 2026

Weekend reading: Food education standards

Food and nutrition education is hard to come by these days. As Laura Reiley wrote in Civil Eats,

The end of SNAP-Ed leaves underserved communities with even fewer resources. The One Big Beautiful Bill Act eliminated the program in July, giving program administrators 90 days to dismantle a nationwide network of nutrition classes and outreach efforts.

You would think that educating SNAP recipients about choices and cooking methods would be good for everyone, but no such luck.

Some groups are trying to fill the gap. Alex DeSorbo-Quinn, the Executive Director of Pilot Light Chefs, sent me a press release

Pilot Light today announced the release of its updated Food Education Standards, the first-ever comprehensive framework for integrating Food Education into PreK-12 classrooms. The revised standards build on five years of real-world implementation by educators across the United States and expand access to include PreK students for the first time.

…The 2025 edition of the Food Education Standards:

Incorporate greater diversity in food system expertise, ensuring all students see themselves reflected in Food Education.

Reflect best practices in teaching and learning based on five years of classroom implementation.

Include competencies tailored to PreK students for greater accessibility and early childhood engagement.

Here’s an example of competency #4: Food behaviors are influenced by external and internal factors for grades 6-8 (I can’t get the resolution higher, sorry):

The standards come with suggestions for activities designed to meet them.

For anyone teaching K-12, this ought to be useful.

It also should be useful to anyone who has a K-12 kid.

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