A set of three handouts on best practices to help you safely handle and store USDA foods at home.
Stewardship of federal funds is a basic expectation of American taxpayers and is critical to the ongoing success of nutrition assistance programs. FNS continuously works to detect, prevent, and minimize errors and improper payments, as well as fraud, waste, or abuse. In this way, FNS preserves public trust, enhances partner relationships, and provides excellent customer service to program participants.
The Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP) is a program that helps supplement the diets of low-income Americans including elderly people by providing them with emergency food assistance at no cost.
The National School Lunch Program provides nutritionally balanced, low-cost or no-cost lunches to children each school day in public and nonprofit private schools and residential child care institutions. The NSLP was established under the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act, signed into law in 1946.
FNS plays a vital role in providing supplemental nutrition assistance when disasters occur by coordinating with state, local, and voluntary organizations to: (1) provide food for shelters and other mass feeding sites, (2) distribute food packages directly to households in specific situations, (3) offer flexibility in nutrition assistance programs’ design and administration to continue providing benefits to participants in need, and (4) approve eligible states’ requests to operate a Disaster Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.
During the second year of Farm to Food Bank Project funding, FNS allocated $3.764 million to 24 TEFAP state agencies that submitted plans to implement Farm to Food Bank Projects. Seventeen of those states received FY 2020 funding and seven are newly participating states. The 24 state agencies that received an award are identified in this resource.
FNS issued eight child nutrition programs off-site monitoring fact sheets to assist states and sponsors in conducting off-site monitoring of child nutrition programs during the pandemic. These documents include a fact sheet that has background information on all programs, as well as separate facts sheets for state and local operators for each program.
During the inaugural year of Farm to Food Bank Project funding, FNS allocated $3,752,000 amongst the 19 TEFAP state agencies that submitted plans to implement Farm to Food Bank Projects. These 19 state agencies are identified in this resource.
USDA Foods in Schools Product Information Sheets containing USDA Foods description and WBSCM ID for other foods.
In January 2020, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Food and Nutrition Service (FNS), responding to requests from local school food service professionals, will publish a proposed rule to provide flexibilities that will better enable schools to serve nutritious foods children will be eager to eat while also increasing program effeciency and integrity.