FNS Documents & Resources

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.

Here's how the WIC food packages are changing.

The Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children – also known as WIC – supports maternal and child health by providing nutritious supplemental foods, nutrition education, breastfeeding promotion and support, and referrals to important health care and other social services.

Healthy Eating Index scores range from 0 to 100 and are a measure of diet quality used to assess how well a set of foods aligns with the Dietary Guidelines for Americans. A higher score is ideal. The FDPIR Food Package scores an 84. This is higher than the average U.S. diet, which scores a 59.

SNAP healthy incentive programs encourage healthy eating by making nutritious food more accessible and affordable through coupons, discounts, gift cards, bonus items, or extra funds.

USDA distributes USDA Foods to food banks, soup kitchens, disaster feeding organizations, Indian Tribal Organizations, charitable institutions and other feeding organizations, helping families stretch their food budgets and ensuring that all Americans have healthy foods within reach.