Push to return pork to Chicago school menus

CHICAGO — A sixth-generation southern Illinois farmer and pork producer addressed the Chicago Public Schools board requesting a review of its policy prohibiting pork products for students’ meals across 630 schools.

It was a policy the current CPS board members were not aware of until Josh Maschhoff’s presentation on behalf of the Illinois Pork Producers Association.

“What we found is that most of the board members had no idea that this pork ban was even in existence and would like to see us look into this policy and see what we could do differently for the students at Chicago Public Schools,” Jennifer Tirey, IPPA executive director, told RFD-TV.

“I might be the only that stands up here today with a proposal for you to save money and still give more choice,” Maschhoff of Carlyle, IPPA past president, said during the public comment portion of the school board meeting.

“I’m here to request a review and reconsideration of the pork prohibition in the Chicago Public Schools’ Local School Wellness policy. It’s not simply a menu issue; it’s fiscal issue.”

At issue is a 2020 CPS ruling that removed pork from the schools’ breakfast and lunch menus, eliminating a potentially large market for pork products.

IPPA was unaware of the move until the group received correspondence from the CPS food service director early last year in response to a letter.

Tirey said during the group’s recent annual meeting that IPPA had sent a letter to the state’s public schools food service directors about a new resource from the National Pork Board aimed at helping public schools prepare pork dishes in their cafeterias.

“We received a response back from the food service director at CPS,” Tirey said. “It said, ‘Well, thank you for this resource. However, we have a ban on pork and we can’t serve pork — not for breakfast, not for lunch. None of our meals can ever have pork in it.’”

The ban meant pork was not an option for all 325,305 CPS students.

Tirey gave a rundown of CPS demographics, noting, according to 2024-2025 data, 47.3% are Latino/Hispanic, 34.2% are Black/African American and 11.3% are White.

Pork consumption is high among these groups in Chicago, according to data compiled by Numerator, with 79.6% of Hispanic households and 75.8% of African American households regularly consuming fresh pork.

“Those families probably don’t even realize that something they hold so culturally close to them is no longer accessible to their kids. It’s not fair that their children cannot access this valuable protein,” Tirey said.

“CPS serves more than 325,000 students and prepares 350,000 meals every day. At that scale, even the minor changes in sourcing can translate into major budget impacts,” Maschhoff told the CPS board.

“Due to it’s pork ban, CPS cannot utilize pork available through the USDA Section 32 purchasing program. The district is leaving money on the table, excluding itself from locally grown nutrient-dense protein, often available at reduced or no cost from Washington.”

Funding Opportunities

Maschhoff provided the school board with examples of missed opportunities for federally-funded free lunch and free breakfast programs.

“On a weekly basis, CPS misses out on $5.5 million in federal dollars because 39% of students skip lunch and 56% skip breakfast. When participation drops, federal money is left on the table,” he said.

“Offering culturally familiar, widely consumed items like pork breakfast sausage dramatically increases student participation. This leads to not just better performance for students, but directly increases federal revenue for CPS.

“Second, direct cost savings. Over the course of the school year using a pork sausage patty instead of a beef patty at breakfast would save CPS more than $1.2 million. That’s just for a single item. Imagine what broader flexibility could mean across 350,000 meals per day.

“This is also gaining broader attention. Illinois leadership recognizes that CPS ban affects students and forfeits millions of dollars from the system.”

State Rep. Sonya Harper, D-Chicago, chairman of the Illinois House Ag Committee, and state Sen. Celina Villanueva, D-Chicago, former CPS student, have each filed legislation in their respective chambers calling for the review of this policy.

Harper’s bill, filed Feb. 20, urges the CPS board to “conduct a formal review of the Local School Wellness Policy provision prohibiting pork products.”

The bill urges such a review “to include identification and disclosure of the original rationale and supporting documentation for the prohibition, consultation with nutrition experts and food service professionals, and consideration of stakeholder input.”

The legislation also “encourages the CPS Board of Education to evaluate whether limited menu testing or pilot programs allowing pork products would better align with current nutrition science, cultural inclusion, fiscal stewardship and full utilization of available USDA foods.”

Eight other legislators have been added as co-sponsors since the Harper’s bill was referred to the House Rules Committee.

Villanueva filed a Senate resolution Feb. 19, with a similar request for a formal review, also noting “public records requests have not identified documentation explaining the rationale, nutrition analysis, cost analysis, or CPS board deliberation supporting the adoption of an all-pork prohibition.”

Restoring Choice

“This is not about mandating pork. This is about choice, restoring choice, increasing participation, reducing costs and allowing CPS nutritionists and procurement to use every fiscal tool available,” Maschhoff told the CPS board.

“The current prohibition was adopted in 2020 without discussion. Pork is a nutrient-dense high protein quality recognized in the 2025 to 2030 guidelines.

“We ask the board to initiate a formal review of the pork prohibition, examine the fiscal implications and provide CPS the flexibility needed to responsibly manage costs while serving nutritious students nutritious, delicious and affordable protein.”