School Food

Feed McAllen ISD Students Real Food

We’re asking McAllen ISD to eliminate added sugar from breakfast, limit fried and ultra-processed foods, and guarantee fresh produce at every meal, all by the start of the 2026–2027 school year.

Currently, McAllen ISD school meals rely heavily on calorie-dense, high-sugar, refined starch, and highly processed products. Diets built around these types of foods are strongly associated with increased risk of chronic conditions such as Type 2 diabetes, obesity, cardiovascular disease, and other long-term health problems.

This is the February 2026 district-wide elementary school menu.

Highlighted in blue are the items that most reasonable people would classify as junk food, fast food, or highly processed convenience food.

Based on a straightforward review of the menu, many of these items resemble packaged retail snacks or quick-service restaurant foods more than scratch-prepared school meals.

Now ask yourself:
Would you choose to serve your child these types of foods every single day?
Would you consider them appropriate staples or occasional treats?

Processed Meats

Currently, all of McAllen ISD’s meat-based products served to children every day arrive from manufacturers fully cooked and frozen. Many of these processed forms of meat have been linked to chronic disease, and some have been classified as carcinogenic by health organizations worldwide.

Snack Bars

Federal and state rules allow schools to sell snacks to students through school snack bars. These items must meet the USDA’s “Smart Snacks” standards. However, the rules are not very strict and still allow foods like chips, ice cream, slushes, and cookies to be sold.

The only item is not highly-processed at McAllen ISD snack bars is water.

Open Records

If you want to dive deep into the data, take a look at some of the open records requests that have been fulfilled so far. If you don’t see what you want, submit a request!