The 2025 Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee conducted Food Pattern Modeling analyses across 12 protocols with support from staff from USDA’s Nutrition and Economic Analysis Branch within the Food and Nutrition Service, Center for Nutrition Policy and Promotion.
The Child Nutrition Act requires USDA to annually compile and publish breastfeeding performance measurements. We use this data to monitor breastfeeding trends and to help identify exemplary performance of WIC state and local agencies in breastfeeding and make awards to such agencies.
SNACS-II studied child care providers who participate in the Child and Adult Care Food Program. This study found that these providers serve healthy meals and snacks to the children in their care. Children have better overall diets on days when they are in child care than on days when they are not.
This report, in the WIC Infant and Toddler Feeding Practices Study 2 (WIC ITFPS-2)/ “Feeding My Baby” Study analyzes the long-term impact of the USDA’s Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) by gathering information on caregivers and children over the first nine years of the child's life after enrollment in WIC, regardless of their continued participation in the program.
The Rapid Cycle Evaluation project provided interested states the opportunity to test small scale operational changes for improving program operations and delivery. Colorado, Connecticut, District of Columbia, Massachusetts, Minnesota and Rhode Island participated in developing and rigorously evaluating site-specific interventions.
This report, the seventh in the WIC Infant and Toddler Feeding Practices Study 2 (WIC ITFPS-2)/ “Feeding My Baby” Study focuses on children's dietary intake patterns, eating behaviors, and weight status during the child's 6th year after WIC eligibility has ended. The report also explores whether patterns of WIC participation in early childhood are associated with dietary behaviors and nutrient intakes after WIC eligibility ends.
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 2014 Farm Bill authorized up to $200 million for the development, implementation, and evaluation of up to 10 pilot projects designed to reduce dependency and increase work effort under SNAP. These pilots gave USDA and states the opportunity to build on existing SNAP E&T programs and test new strategies to determine the most effective ways to help SNAP recipients gain and retain employment that leads to self-sufficiency.
The purpose of this study is to help FNS better understand how states are implementing the SNAP E&T case management requirement, including how they assess individuals’ needs for services and supports and provide participant reimbursements and other support services. It was also intended to identify promising practices and lessons learned that can be used to support states as they work to provide case management services aligned with their participants’ needs, available resources, and program priorities.
The Child Nutrition Act, established a new reporting requirement for the WIC program. USDA is now mandated to compile and publish annually, breastfeeding performance measurements based on program participant data on the number of partially and fully breastfed infants for each WIC state and local agency.