Skip to main content
Resource | Research and Data Characteristics of SNAP Households: Fiscal Year 2023

We release annual reports describing the persons and households participating in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). This report uses the fiscal year 2023 SNAP Quality Control data to examine the demographic characteristics and economic circumstances of SNAP households at the national and state level.

05/02/2025
Resource | Research and Data Child Nutrition Program Operations During the COVID-19 Pandemic - July 2021 through September 2022

This data collection fulfills states' reporting requirements and describes trends in program participation during the COVID-19 pandemic from July 2021 through September 2022. It is part of an ongoing study series examining child nutrition program operations, repurposed to collect waiver usage and trends in program participation and operations during the pandemic.

03/18/2025
Resource | Research and Data | General/Other CACFP Sponsor and Provider Characteristics Study

The CACFP Sponsor and Provider Characteristics Study is focused on the child care component of the CACFP, which provides federal funds for meals and snacks served to children in public or private child care centers, Head Start programs, outside-school-hours care centers, afterschool care programs, emergency shelters, and day care homes. The study also covered centers that participate in the At-Risk Afterschool (At-Risk) component, which provides meals to children and youth through age 18.

08/28/2018
Resource | Research and Data | Payment Accuracy and Program Integrity CACFP Assessment of Sponsor Tiering Determinations - 2014

The 2014 Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP): Assessment of Sponsor Tiering Determinations examines the accuracy of the classification of family day care homes (FDCHs) participating in the CACFP. In response to the Improper Payments Elimination and Recovery Act (IPERA) of 2010, the assessment provides estimates of the number of FDCHs in 2014 that were misclassified by sponsoring agencies into the wrong tier, and the resulting erroneous payments for meals and snacks reimbursed at the wrong rate.

10/14/2015
Resource | Research and Data | Food/Nutrient Analysis Diet Quality of American School Children by NSLP Participation Status: Data from National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, 2005-2010

This report uses data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination survey to provide a comprehensive picture of the nutrient intakes, food choices, and diet quality of American school children, broken out by participation in the National School Lunch Program and income status.

05/05/2015
Resource | Research and Data | Assessing/Improving Operations Regional Office Review of Applications (RORA) for School Meals 2014

This is the tenth in a series of annual reports to examine administrative errors incurred during the local educational agency’s (LEA) approval process of household applications for free and reduced-price meals in the National School Lunch Program (NSLP). This report examines administrative error estimates in student certification for free and reduced-price NSLP meals.

05/04/2015
Resource | Research and Data | Participation Rates Direct Certification in the NSLP Report to Congress: State Implementation Progress, SY 2013-14

This report responds to the requirement of PL 110-246 to assess the effectiveness of state and local efforts to directly certify children for free school meals. Direct certification is a process conducted by the states and by local educational agencies to certify eligible children for free meals without the need for household applications. 

05/01/2015
Resource | Research and Data | Assessing/Improving Operations Program Error in the NSLP and SBP: Findings from the Second Access, Participation, Eligibility and Certification Study

FNS developed the Access, Participation, Eligibility and Certification (APEC) study series, which collects and analyzes data from a nationally representative sample of schools and school food authorities (SFAs) about every 5 years. APEC allows FNS to develop a national estimate of erroneous payment rates and amounts in three key areas: certification error, meal claiming error and aggregation error.  FNS recently completed APEC II, which collected data in School Year 2012-2013 and this report summarizes those findings.

05/01/2015
Resource | Research and Data | Nutrition Education Formative Research on Nutrition, Physical Activity, and Electronic Media Use in CACFP

This report includes findings from formative research undertaken to help USDA assist child care providers in following the nutrition, physical activity, and electronic media use recommendations outlined in the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010.

03/09/2015
Resource | Research Plans Analyses of the Contributing Factors Associated With Foodborne Outbreaks in School Settings (2000–2010)

The purpose of the authors’ study was to examine the role of contributing factors in school foodborne outbreaks. Contamination factors accounted for the greatest proportion (49.2%) of outbreaks involving some level of food handling interaction by a school food service worker, followed by proliferation (34.9%) and survival factors (15.9%). Over 56% of all illnesses were associated with norovirus and food service worker practices.

03/01/2015
Page updated: May 22, 2025