The CACFP meal patterns lay the foundation for a healthy eating pattern for children and adults in care. USDA also developed optional best practices that build on the meal patterns and highlight areas where centers and day care homes may take additional steps to further improve the nutritional quality of the meals they serve.
Find farmers' markets that are authorized to accept SNAP benefits during particular months.
Geographic Preference Option Questions and Answers
This guide informs small entities participating in child nutrition programs about the final rule, Child Nutrition Programs: Meal Patterns Consistent With the 2020-2025 Dietary Guidelines for Americans, and how to comply with it. This guide does not include any new requirements; it just summarizes existing guidance related to the final rule.
SNAP helps put healthy food within reach for those in need. This dashboard is intended to provide the public with an understanding of how SNAP helps make nutritious food more affordable for low-income households.
This memorandum provides a detailed explanation of the expanded geographic preference option.
On April 25, 2024, FNS published the final rule, Child Nutrition Programs: Meal Patterns Consistent With the 2020-2025 Dietary Guidelines for Americans. This rule includes minor updates to the Child and Adult Care Food Program and Summer Food Service Program to better align Child Nutrition Program requirements. These updates represent continued progress toward supporting the nutrition quality of school meals, strengthening the Child Nutrition Programs, and advancing USDA’s commitment to nutrition security.
This data collection fulfills states’ reporting requirements and describes trends in program participation during the COVID-19 pandemic from July 2020 through Dec. 2021. It is part of an ongoing study series examining CN program operations, repurposed to collect waiver reports from all states. A previous report in the series detailed waiver usage and trends in program participation and operations from March through Sept. 2020.
This Child and Adult Care Food Program cooking video demonstrates the quick-and-easy preparation of the USDA standardized recipe for Roasted Spaghetti Squash for children 6 through 18 years of age.
Through an examination of 5 disasters in 4 states, this study develops recommendations for best practices in planning for, implementing, and operating D-SNAP.