This rulemaking finalizes long-term school nutrition requirements based on the goals of the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, 2020-2025, robust stakeholder input, and lessons learned from prior rulemakings.
USDA works with states and school nutrition professionals to provide kids with nutritious school meals that support their health and well-being. The department has offered schools across the country nearly $13.7 billion in financial since January 2021. Learn more below.
School meals are an important part of making sure kids get what they need to grow and learn. We know you want the best for our nation's children and USDA is investing in making school meals even healthier.
Media toolkit for USDA updates to the school nutrition standards in a few key areas to give kids the right balance of nutrients for healthy and appealing meals.
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.
The Healthy Meals Incentives Initiative seeks to improve the nutritional quality of school meals through food systems transformation, SFA recognition and technical assistance, the generation and sharing of innovative ideas and tested practices.
This fact sheet outlines a number of additional resources for those seeking to directly purchase or raise food products for school nutrition programs.
Comparison table for CEP proposed rule: current requirements vs. proposed changes.