School Meal Safety and Standards Act

School Meal Safety and Standards Act - Amends the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act to require the Secretary of Agriculture to: (1) develop guidelines for determining when it is appropriate to institute an administrative hold on suspect food and commodities being used in school meal programs; (2) work with states to increase the timeliness and completeness of their notifications to schools and school food authorities of food and commodity holds and recalls; (3) improve the timeliness and completeness of direct notifications to states, schools, and school food authorities about holds and recalls; (4) establish a timeframe for improving commodity hold and recall procedures so that they address the role of processors and distributors and facilitate the provision of more timely and complete information to states, schools, and school food authorities; (5) revise procedures to provide states with more specific instructions for schools and school food authorities about how to dispose of recalled foods and commodities and obtain timely reimbursement; (6) institute a systematic quality check procedure to ensure that holds and recalls on foods and commodities used by schools are carried out effectively; (7) study existing commercial practices and standards regarding food quality, safety, and testing; and (8) implement regulations that require the Department of Agriculture to meet or exceed, with respect to the school meal programs, commercial practices and standards.

Directs the Secretary, within one year of this Act's enactment, to revise the procedures of the Food Safety and Inspection Service to ensure that schools are included in recall effectiveness checks.

Written by the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service. All summary versions on Congress.gov