The School Breakfast Program is a federally assisted meal program operating in public and nonprofit private schools and residential child care institutions. It began as a pilot project in 1966, and was made permanent in 1975. At the state level, the program is usually administered by state education agencies, which operate the program through agreements with local school food authorities in more than 78,000 schools and institutions.
School meals are required to meet specific nutrition standards to operate the school meals programs. The standards align school meals with the latest nutrition science and the real world circumstances of America’s schools.
This memorandum informs stakeholders on the progress made by FNS in updating the food crediting system for all child nutrition programs. This is a first step towards improving the crediting system to best address today’s evolving food and nutrition environment and meet the needs of those operating and benefiting from the CNPs.
Nutrition Standards for All Foods Sold in School, Smart Snacks in Schools
The new standards will allow schools to offer healthier snack foods for our children, while limiting junk food served to students. Students will still be able to buy snacks that meet common-sense standards for fat, saturated fat, sugar, and sodium, while promoting products that have whole grains, low fat dairy, fruits, vegetables or protein foods as their main ingredients.
The Department of Defense Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Program allows schools to use their USDA Foods entitlement dollars to buy fresh produce. The program, operated by DoD’s Defense Logistics Agency, began in SY 1994-95 as a pilot in eight states. As of 2013, schools in 46 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands and Guam participate; schools are anticipated to receive more than $100 million worth of produce through the program during SY 2012-13.
This paper provides some explanation and direction for state agencies and School Food Authorities to use in the discussions on the new calorie maximum as well as some tips to improve acceptance of school meals.
School Budget - Budget Information Non-Construction Programs (Standard Form 424A)