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.
This final rule - Child Nutrition Programs: Meal Patterns Consistent With the 2020-2025 Dietary Guidelines for Americans - is the next step in continuing the science-based improvement of school meals and advancing USDA’s commitment to nutrition security.
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.
The Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2023 authorized Summer Electronic Benefits Transfer for Children (Summer EBT) as a permanent federal food assistance entitlement program beginning in summer 2024. Summer EBT has been tested through evaluations of demonstration projects since 2011. With pending implementation of this new program, this is an appropriate time to reflect on what USDA, FNS research has learned through more than a decade of study.
The goal of the dashboard is to provide national and state level visualization of meals served, participation, and funding data for the National School Lunch Program, School Breakfast Program, Child and Adult Care Food Program, and Summer Food Service Program. The dashboard can be used by federal, state, and local organizations to assess trends in child nutrition program activity.
The Operational Challenges in Child Nutrition Programs surveys, are designed to collect timely data on emerging school food service operational challenges, including but not limited to supply chain disruptions, food costs, and labor shortages, and/or related issues.
Check out this database to access vendor-specific product information for all direct delivered USDA Foods for the National School Lunch Program.
To make sure that eligible families know about WIC and the benefits it provides, FNS is investing in outreach.
We want WIC families to be able to shop simply and conveniently, just like other shoppers. FNS is supporting WIC state agencies as they modernize the shopping experience in store, online, and at farmers markets, through both funding and waivers.
Enrolling in and sticking with WIC helps families get the nutrition and healthcare they need to build a healthier future. FNS is working with state and federal partners to make the WIC journey, from start to finish, a smoother, more fulfilling experience for all participants by modernizing technology and service delivery.