Senate committee advances Food is Medicine resolution January 21, 2026 Sen. Shelley Funke Frommeyer, R-Alexandria, speaks Wednesday on Senate Joint Resolution 23 during a Senate Health Services Committee meeting. SJR 23 would declare Kentucky a Food is Medicine state and direct state agencie s to advance Food is Medicine initiatives. A high-res version can be found here. FRANKFORT — A senate joint resolution aiming to help Kentuckians prioritize nutrition advanced Wednesday during a Senate Health Services Committee meeting. Senate Joint Resolution 23 would declare Kentucky as a “Food is Medicine” state and direct state agencies to advance Food is Medicine initiatives. The bill’s sponsor, Sen. Shelley Funke Frommeyer, R-Alexandria, said the initiatives not only bolster physical and mental well-being through food in a meaningful way, but also help farmers learn what Kentuckians are consuming while strengthening their businesses. “This isn’t just fruits and vegetables. This is protein sources. We grow some beautiful beef, pork, poultry in Kentucky as well,” Funke Frommeyer said. “So, to be proudly offering that to our students would be wonderful, but of course, to our most sick Kentuckians who are in our acute care settings.” Before voting on the resolution, committee members adopted some changes to the resolution language designed to help the state receive more federal funding. “We recognized that there are federal dollars that came from the Big Beautiful Bill that may help support our rural hospitals. So, we have a very meaningful portion of this resolution that will allow us to be more likely to pull those dollars down,” Funke Frommeyer said. Morgan Bray, who works with the Kentucky Hospital Association and the Kentucky Department of Agriculture on implementing Food is Medicine efforts, said the initiatives kicked off approximately two years ago. They have been well-received, she added. “Today, we have 52 hospitals who have voluntarily onboarded out of the 129 that are currently in the commonwealth under the Kentucky Hospital Association,” she said. Bray said hospitals are subscribing to the initiatives on a voluntary basis, and it makes sense to put a critical lens on what patients are consuming, all while supporting local agriculture. Dana Feldman, KDA’s executive director for the Consumer and Environmental Protection Office, said the program is tailored to the needs of different organizations. Feldman and Bray have traveled throughout Kentucky to promote the initiatives. “Everyone wants to be a part of Food is Medicine. They do see the value in it,” Feldman said. Feldman said Kentucky is a leader in the Food is Medicine efforts. “I also want to point out that this resolution and the one that will be mirrored in the House is the first of its kind in the nation to declare a state – a Food is Medicine state – and to lay the groundwork for supporting this type of work,” she said. Funke Frommeyer said a positive aspect of Food is Medicine is helping farmers gauge demand. Sen. Lindsey Tichenor, R-Smithfield, said she strongly supports the concept. “Just reading through it, I think this is one of the most monumental things that we can do to get Kentucky on the right path as far as health and the impacts that this will have on health care in general,” she said. Sen. Keturah J. Herron, D-Louisville, said she’s concerned about the lack of grocery stores in some neighborhoods. “When we’re talking about access, one of the biggest issues is actually brick and mortar. My district is in Louisville. I live in Old Louisville, which is a community that is a very mixed community. You have folks who are living in subsidized housing to millionaires,” she said. Herron said it’s not necessarily that residents without a nearby grocery store don’t want to eat healthy food; they might not have access to it. She said she’s working on a bill to promote grocery store access in rural and urban areas. Sen. Karen Berg, D-Louisville, asked the bill’s supporters if they had been working with school personnel to promote healthy nutrition. Feldman said this has been the case, and cited farm-to-school programs. Sen. Donald Douglas, R-Nicholasville, said good nutrition needs to be taught in homes, and grocery stores will sell what people buy. He said many sources suggest that healthy food costs the same or is priced slightly lower than ultra-processed food, yet people still cling to the hope that the ultra-processed food costs less. The resolution now heads to the full Senate for consideration. The post Senate committee advances Food is Medicine resolution appeared first on The Lexington Times. ...read more read less