Plant-based default in school meals; revise school food standards to require plant-based options

Replacing resource-intensive animal-based foods with plant-based alternatives can significantly increase food availability, as plant-based diets can produce up to 20-fold more nutritionally similar food per unit of cropland compared to beef and eggs. This shift not only reduces opportunity food losses, which are much higher than conventional food losses, but also enhances environmental sustainability by lowering resource use and greenhouse gas emissions.