This analysis helps to estimate the nutritional quality of the 2022 FDPIR food package 'as offered' using the Healthy Eating Index scoring algorithm. This will provide an update to the first HEI estimate of the 2014 FDPIR food package. The project also aims to estimate the HEIs of the food packages 'as delivered' to participants.

The Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2023 authorized Summer Electronic Benefits Transfer for Children (Summer EBT) as a permanent federal food assistance entitlement program beginning in summer 2024. Summer EBT has been tested through evaluations of demonstration projects since 2011. With pending implementation of this new program, this is an appropriate time to reflect on what USDA, FNS research has learned through more than a decade of study.

​This study examines the use of robotic process automation technologies by three state agencies—Georgia, New Mexico, and Connecticut—to administer SNAP.

This report offers a description of nutrition education within USDA and a summary of coordinated nutrition education activities completed from October 2021 through September 2022. Activities include nutrition education defined by statute, policies that encourages nutrition education or promotion, and USDA priorities.

 

Section 4022 of the Agricultural Act of 2014 authorized and funded the SNAP employment and training pilots and the evaluation. The four issue briefs present findings drawn from the evaluation of the 10 pilots. 

The WIC Food Cost-Containment Practices Study describes the voluntarily approaches state agencies used in 2018 to reduce food costs when selecting and authorizing WIC foods. This study is the second of its kind; the first was conducted by the USDA Economic Research Service in 2003. This report examines how six types of food cost-containment practices are associated with food costs and WIC participant satisfaction, benefit redemption, and food consumption in 12 state agencies. 

USDA's nutrition assistance programs touch the lives of one in four American consumers annually and the nutrition education efforts associated with select programs offer a powerful opportunity to promote food security and improve dietary quality among eligible individuals and families.

This report responds to the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021, which directs the FNS to provide a report on the amount of added sugars in school meals.

The WIC Vendor Management Study: 2015 Electronic Benefits Transfer (EBT) Pilot examined compliance with program requirements and rates of violations among WIC EBT vendors in 2015 and tested a method to identify and measure errors that contribute to improper payments in an EBT environment.

The WIC Infant and Toddler Feeding Practices Study 2 (WIC ITFPS-2)/ “Feeding My Baby” Study  is the only national study to capture data on caregivers and their children over the first 5 years of the child’s life after enrollment in WIC, regardless of their continued participation in the program. This report focuses on the dietary intake patterns, eating behaviors, and weight status of children during the fifth year of life. The report also examines associations between WIC participation and key diet and health-related outcomes.