The Montgomery County Council passed a bill Tuesday that requires restaurants and eateries to provide healthy options for kids meals, marking one of the first localities in the U.S. to pass such a requirement.

In a 8-1 vote, councilmembers adopted the “Healthy Meals for Children” bill, which requires any eatery that serves a specific children’s meal to also offer at least one healthy children’s meal as an option. Under the legislation, the definition of “healthy” is quite extensive.

The meal must contain at least two or more of the following:

• 1/2 cup of unfried vegetables or fruit, excluding juice, condiments, or spreads,
• a whole grain product
• a lean protein, consisting of one ounce or more of meat, seafood, nuts, seeds, beans, or peas, or one egg, or 1/2 cup of nonfat or 1% milk or low-fat yogurt, or one ounce of reduced fat cheese; or a plant-based, nondairy alternative.

The bill also requires that the businesses that serve a children’s meal with a beverage to offer at least one of the following:

• plain water
• 8 ounces or less of unflavored nonfat or 1% milk, or a non-dairy equivalent with no added natural or artificial sweeteners
• 6 ounces or less of 100% fruit or vegetable juice, or a combination of 100% fruit and vegetable juice with no added natural or artificial sweeteners.

Councilmember Craig Rice first proposed the legislation in January. The only “no” vote, from Councilmember Andrew Friedson, argued that the bill should exempt smaller restaurants from compliance, as they may not have the funds, resources, or staff to offer meals in line with the bill’s requirement. The bill also drew pushback from the Restaurant Association of Maryland, which argued that specific nutritional values should be removed from meal criteria — an amendment that didn’t make it into the final bill.

Enforcement will fall to the Department of Health and Human Services; any business that is found to violate the requirement could face a $500 fine at first, and a $750 fine for any repeat offenses.

Neighboring Prince George’s County lawmakers adopted a similar measure in 2020, requiring restaurants to include healthier drinks with kids’ meals. The law, which went into effect in May 2021, stopped short of mandating any food options immediately. Instead, the bill gradually introduced requirements for a healthy side first (in years two to three years after the bill became a law) and then a healthy meal (three to four years later).

While more than a dozen laws are on the books around the country to require healthy beverage options in kids menus, Prince George’s County’s and Montgomery County’s laws are among the first in the nation to set requirements for both food and drinks. (Lawmakers in Louisville, Ky., passed similar legislation in 2018.)

The bill now heads to County Executive Marc Elrich’s desk for a signature. (A spokesperson for the county executive did not return DCist/WAMU’s request for comment.) If passed, the drink requirement of the bill would take effect one year later, and the food portion would be required 18 months later.