Data & Research
The Nutrition Education and Local Food Access Dashboard is comprised of public data. The goal of the dashboard is to provide a county-level visualization of FNS nutrition support, specifically nutrition education and local food access, alongside other metrics related to hunger and nutritional health.
FNS advances food safety education and practices in federal nutrition assistance programs through research conducted by the Center for Food Safety in Child Nutrition Programs (the Center). To better understand food safety concerns associated with fresh produce and farm to school activities, the Center conducted a study.
This White Paper examines whether any additional means-tested programs might be feasible for use in the direct certification of school-age children participating in school meals or for verification of household income on meal applications.
Under the Community Eligibility Provision, schools do not collect or process meal applications for free and reduced-price meals served in the National School Lunch Program and School Breakfast Program. Schools must serve all meals at no cost with any costs in excess of the federal reimbursement paid from non-federal sources.
To ensure program integrity, school districts must sample household applications certified for free or reduced-price meals, contact the households, and verify eligibility. This process (known as household verification) can be burdensome for both school officials and households. Direct verification uses information from certain other means-tested programs to verify eligibility without contacting applicants. Potential benefits include: less burden for households, less work for school officials, and fewer students with school meal benefits terminated because of nonresponse to verification requests.