This memorandum provides information about the approximately $500 million in additional support for emergency food programs that USDA is providing in FY 2025 under the statutory authority of the Commodity Credit Corporation Charter Act for distribution through The Emergency Food Assistance Program.

The purpose of this memorandum is to provide state agencies and program operators of the child nutrition programs, including the National School Lunch Program, School Breakfast Program, Child and Adult Care Food Program, and the Summer Food Service Program, with additional information and clarification on the state agency monitoring process regarding the: 1) Child nutrition label, 2) watermarked CN label, and 3) manufacturer’s Product Formulation Statement.

 Through this memorandum, FNS is providing state distributing agencies, including Indian Tribal Organizations (ITOs), with initial implementation guidance and implementation dates for the provisions of the final rule that pertain to USDA Foods Disaster Assistance. 

Through this memorandum, FNS is providing FDPIR administering agencies with initial implementation guidance and implementation dates for the provisions of the Improving Access and Parity Final Rule.

This document provides information on the requirements for submission of additional CSFP caseload requests for states and ITOs wishing to increase their assigned caseload in 2025.

On April 25, 2024, FNS published the final rule, Child Nutrition Programs: Meal Patterns Consistent With the 2020-2025 Dietary Guidelines for Americans. While most provisions in the 2024 final rule focus on the National School Lunch Program and School Breakfast Program, this rule also includes limited updates to the Child and Adult Care Food Program and the Summer Food Service Program to better align child nutrition programs requirements. These updates represent continued progress toward supporting the nutritional quality of meals offered through the CNPs and meeting cultural food preferences of program participants. 

This guidance is intended to assist state agencies and program operators of the Child and Adult Care Food Program and Summer Food Service Program in meeting the longstanding federal requirement to collect race and ethnicity data of program participants.

The purpose of this memorandum is to provide clarification on the written notice requirements that apply to indian tribal organizations and state agencies that administer FDPIR, per the USDA regulations on equal opportunity for religious organizations to participate in USDA assistance programs.

The purpose of this memorandum is to clarify the written notice and referral requirements for organizations that receive USDA Foods or administrative funding as part of CSFP and TEFAP program guidance, per USDA regulations on equal opportunity for religious organizations to participate in USDA assistance programs.

This memorandum and attachments provide information on the revised Form FNS-418: Report of the Summer Food Service Program for Children that is used to report data on meals served in the SFSP, and the revised Form FNS-10: Report of School Program Operations that is used to report data on meals served in the National School Lunch Program and School Breakfast Program.