FNS Documents & Resources

The National School Lunch Program is a federally assisted meal program operating in public and nonprofit private schools and residential child care institutions. It provides nutritionally balanced, low-cost or no-cost lunches to children each school day. The program was established under the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act, signed into law by President Harry Truman in 1946.

Categorized by food type, the USDA Foods Product Information Sheets describe the items expected to be available for schools and institutions participating in the Child and Adult Care Food Program, the National School Lunch Program, the Summer Food Service Program, and other child nutrition programs.

In December 2018, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) published a proposed rule entitled “Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP): Requirements for Able-Bodied Adults without Dependents”. This action supports the Agency’s commitment to self-sufficiency by more broadly applying SNAP’s work-related program standards for able-bodied adults without dependents (ABAWDs).

In the event of a Presidential Disaster Declaration, FNS can procure and provide an emergency supply of infant formula and food to supplement a state’s or FEMA's disaster feeding efforts.

-- How do people use SNAP benefits to buy food in my store?
-- How do I get POS equipment for my store?
-- If I am eligible and choose the state-supplied POS device, when will I get my equipment?
-- Who can I call if I have other questions?

States have long served as incubators for testing strategies to help prevent program fraud. Based on an FNS partnership with 10 states, the "SNAP Fraud Framework" combines innovations in the use of analytics with concepts and practices from industry in order to more effectively detect potential fraud and improve administration and oversight.

This page includes USDA Foods Product Information Sheets for the "other" category of USDA Foods available in the household programs. 

Factsheet on the SNAP quality control process and payment error rates. 

USDA Foods further processing allows state distributing agencies (SDA) and recipient agencies (RA) such as school districts to contract with commercial food processors to convert raw and/or bulk USDA Foods into a variety of convenient, ready-to-use end products.

The USDA Grants and Loans that Support Farm to School Activities factsheetprovides an overview of funding opportunities available to assist farms, schools, and every link in between in feeding kids healthy local meals; teaching them about food, farming and nutrition; and supporting local agricultural economies.