Existing law, the California Retail Food Code, establishes uniform health and sanitation standards for, and provides for regulation by the State Department of Public Health of, retail food facilities, as defined, and requires local enforcement agencies to enforce these provisions. Existing law requires a restaurant that sells a children’s meal that includes a beverage to make the default beverage water, sparkling water, or flavored water, as specified, or unflavored milk or a nondairy milk alternative, as specified. A violation of the code’s provisions related to children’s meals is an infraction.

This bill would require a chain restaurant, as defined, that sells a children’s meal to offer at least one children’s meal that meets specified minimum nutrition standards, including, among others, that the meal not contain more than 550 calories and that the meal include at least 2 servings of specified types and quantities of food. The bill would also require the chain restaurant to include an icon or symbol on the menu to identify the children’s meal that meets those requirements. The bill would require a chain restaurant that sells a children’s meal, on or before July 1, 2026, to include information to its employees on how to comply with those requirements.