Updated School Meal Standards: working towards a common goal of healthy children and helping them reach their full potential.
School meals will continue to include fruits and vegetables, emphasize whole grains, and give kids the right balance of nutrients for healthy, tasty meals. For the first time, schools will focus on products with less added sugar, especially in school breakfast.
School nutrition professionals continue to make school meals the healthiest meals children eat in a day! To take school meals to the next level, USDA is updating the school nutrition standards after considering recommendations from the most recent Dietary Guidelines for Americans and listening to a diverse range of voices with experience in child nutrition and health.
This memorandum provides updated guidance on crediting tofu and soy yogurt products in the Child and Adult Care Food Program and extends previous guidance on crediting tofu and soy yogurt products to the Summer Food Service Program, as well as to the infant meal pattern in the Child and Adult Care Food Program.
Attached to this memorandum, please find a revised edition of the Prototype Application for Free and Reduced Price School Meals, with an accompanying instructions document. These materials may be adapted for direct use by state and local agencies, or as a reference for designing an effective application packet that meets all statutory and regulatory requirements.
The USDA Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) will discontinue the requirement for vendors to use high security seals to secure USDA Foods deliveries as of July 1, 2023.
This factsheet highlights how a variety of healthy foods from each MyPlate food group are included as part of a school lunch. Learn about ways to help children make healthy food and beverage choices at school.
This infographic highlights healthy foods that are part of a balanced school breakfast. Learn about why eating breakfast is important for learning, and how parents can help their child eat a healthy breakfast at school.
The Food Buying Guide for child nutrition programs has all of the current information in one manual to help you and your purchasing agent buy the right amount of food and the appropriate type of food for your program(s), and determine the specific contribution each food makes toward the meal pattern requirements.
School meals are one of the most important tools for ensuring children have access to healthy and nutritious food. USDA strengthened school meal standards in 2012. Research on the impact of these changes emphasizes why we must support nutritious school meals.