FNA Documents & Resources

USDA is asking states to pledge to make their school meals and snack programs healthier to ensure students are served nourishing foods that support lifelong healthy eating patters.

In this program guidance, Secretary of Agriculture, Brooke L. Rollins, strongly encourages child nutrition program operators to familiarize themselves with the key recommendations and consider how the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, 2025-2030 can be incorporated into program meals and snacks to promote healthy outcomes and healthy families.

This report explores different approaches to reevaluating the Thrifty Food Plan, which represents a low-cost, nutritious diet comprised of foods and beverages consumed at home and is used to calculate SNAP benefit amounts. 

This proposed rule would update the method for calculating the Thrifty Food Plan cost adjustment for Hawaii to incorporate food prices from throughout the state of Hawaii rather than from Honolulu alone.

The Statewide Thrifty Food Plan Cost Estimate for Hawaii report describes the process used to calculate a new Thrifty Food Plan cost estimate for Hawaii that is based on the best currently available food price data from throughout the state of Hawaii in alignment with the proposed rule. This report uses the same peer-reviewed methodology as the Thrifty Food Plan Cost Estimates for Alaska and Hawaii report, published by FNS in 2023.

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. 

The USDA, Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) coordinates with State agencies, Tribal Nations, and voluntary organizations as they develop disaster nutrition assistance strategies before, during, and after disasters and emergencies.

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.