On April 25, 2024, FNA published the final rule, Child Nutrition Programs: Meal Patterns Consistent With the 2020-2025 Dietary Guidelines for Americans. This rule includes minor updates to the Child and Adult Care Food Program and Summer Food Service Program to better align Child Nutrition Program requirements. These updates represent continued progress toward supporting the nutrition quality of school meals, strengthening the Child Nutrition Programs, and advancing USDA’s commitment to nutrition security.
A collection of USDA standardized recipes for schools and the CACFP, recipe standardization guides, and recipes to make with kids.
This fact sheet, available in both English and Spanish, reviews the steps to successfully integrate local food in child nutrition programs.
This factsheet gives examples, tips, and information for putting local meat on school menus.
This factsheet explains how USDA Foods support the Dietary Guidelines for Americans and the school meal pattern requirements to make it easier for schools to prepare healthy meals using local foods.
The purpose of this memorandum is to provide guidance for state agencies and program operators on the status of nationwide waivers of statutory and regulatory requirements in the Summer Food Service Program.
Parts of this memorandum have been rescinded by SFSP01-2019: Summer Food Service Program Memoranda Rescission, Oct. 11, 2018. Rescinded policy has been struck through.
This memorandum supersedes SP 25-2012, CACFP 12-2012, SFSP 10-2012, Disaster Response and provides an overview of ways state agencies, school food authorities participating can respond to situations resulting from damage or disruptions due to natural disasters such as hurricanes, tornadoes, and flood as well as other exceptional emergency situations or man-made disasters. Allows state agencies to designate any appropriate facility, which is providing meals to displaced families who are being temporarily housed elsewhere, as a CACFP emergency shelter during a natural disaster or other emergency situation.
This memorandum clarifies the flexibility available to local educational agency officials for establishing the effective date of eligibility for children certified for free or reduced price meals in the National School Lunch and School Breakfast Programs and free milk in the Special Milk Program based on household applications.
The purpose of this memorandum is to consolidate our policy regarding the participation of Head Start Programs in the child nutrition programs. For more information about the Head Start Program and Early Head Start Program.