It is becoming apparent that school feeding is being used as a wedge to justify restrictive legislation based on protection of domestic food production or to generate political capital.  EGG-NEWS has commented on the legislation introduced into the California Assembly banning a range of food additive dyes.  There is no justification for this measure since scientific evidence fails to demonstrate a correlation between consumption of the series of dyes and neuro-behavioral abnormalities, despite unsubstantiated posting on social media. 

Recently H.B. 429 was enacted by the Louisiana Legislature restricting seafood served in schools to domestically harvested and processed products.  Other states have passed discriminatory legislation relating to school feeding that would probably not be possible if intended for the general public.  Legislation favoring local purchases of produce is justifiable but the need for subsidies suggests that favoring small-scale farmers imposes an additional cost that may not be either justified or provide cost benefit.