Meet the new Food Education Standards!
Food Education Standards (FES) are vitally important when teaching Food Education, and they just got a whole lot better!
Today, we are excited to announce the release of the 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 educations across the United States and expand access to include PreK resources for the first time.
Since their groundbreaking introduction in 2018, the FES have empowered educators to use food as a powerful teaching tool across all subjects, from science and social studies to math and language arts. The updated standards reflect feedback from hundreds of educators and incorporate greater diversity in food system expertise, while maintaining their core mission: helping students understand the role of food in connecting communities, cultures, and the environment.
“Every day, educators using Food Education Standards prove that Food Education is about so much more than nutrition,” said Alexandra DeSorbo-Quinn, Executive Director of Pilot Light. “These updated standards give teachers an even stronger foundation to help students explore their world through food – building connections between health, culture, the environment, and their futures as food system leaders.”
Updated for Today’s Classrooms
The 2025 edition of the FES:
- 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.
The seven standards guide students through understanding that food connects us, has sources and origins, impacts the environment, influences our behaviors, impacts our health, empowers informed choices, and provides opportunities for advocacy and change.
Widespread Endorsement from Education Leaders
The updated standards have earned endorsements from leading voices in education, food systems, and child development, including:
Chef Carla Hall, known for her appearances on Top Chef and The Chew and her deep commitment to cultural heritage in cuisine, praised the standards’ community-building power: “Their work to impact communities nationwide through food is remarkable, and their Food Education Standards guide it, an incredible tool for building connections and community through food in schools.”
Andrea Rowe – 2022-2023 Fellow, FAN Member, supported the standards for their clear learning objectives and practical classroom applications, noting: “The revised Food Education Standards offer clear learning objectives tailored to children, using language that is easy for their age group to understand.”
Katie Wilson, PhD, Executive Director of the Urban School Food Alliance, highlighted their evolution: “This reprint builds on the strengths of the original standards by making it even easier for educators to make connections among food, education, and community.”
About the FES
Originally developed through a four-year consensus-building process with educators, community members, and interdisciplinary experts, the FES serve as the foundation for all of Pilot Light’s programs and initiatives. They provide a practical roadmap for weaving food into everyday classroom learning, creating lessons that resonate far beyond school walls.
The standards support Pilot Light’s unique, teacher-centered model, which allows students of all ages, backgrounds, abilities, and levels of food security to learn about food and their agency within the food system.
Download the updated Food Education Standards at https://simplebooklet.com/foodeducationstandardsrev2025.