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Resource | Technical Assistance & Guidance USDA Foods Database

Check out this database to access vendor-specific product information for all direct delivered USDA Foods for the National School Lunch Program.

11/09/2023
Resource | Info Sheets Broad-Based Categorical Eligibility (BBCE)

Broad-based categorical eligibility is a policy that makes most households categorically eligible for SNAP because they qualify for a non-cash TANF or state maintenance of effort funded benefit.

11/02/2023
Resource | Technical Assistance & Guidance Crediting Grains in Child Nutrition Programs Tip Sheets

Check out the three-part "Crediting Grains in the Child Nutrition Programs", the final three tip sheets of the "Crediting in the Child Nutrition Programs" tip sheet series! Use these as a quick reference and get to know the grains requirements across all the child nutrition programs.

FNS-935
05/23/2023
Resource | Technical Assistance & Guidance Crediting Tip Sheets in Child Nutrition Programs

Check out the three-part "Crediting Grains in the Child Nutrition Programs", the final three tip sheets of the "Crediting in the Child Nutrition Programs" tip sheet series! Use these as a quick reference and get to know the grains requirements across all the child nutrition programs.

05/23/2023
Resource | Technical Assistance & Guidance Crediting Meats/Meat Alternates in Child Nutrition Programs Tip Sheet

The Meats/Meat Alternates Tip Sheet is designed for program operators as a handy and easy-to-use reference on how to credit meats/meat alternates and incorporate them into the meal pattern requirements.

FNS-933
05/03/2023
Resource | Research | Food/Nutrient Analysis Added Sugars in School Meals and Competitive Foods

This report responds to the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021, which directs the FNS to provide a report on the amount of added sugars in school meals.

08/11/2022
Resource | Info Sheets School Lunch and Breakfast Sodium Limits and Timeline

National School Lunch Program and School Breakfast Program sodium limits and timeline

02/24/2022
Resource | Research | Assessing/Improving Operations Evaluation of the Direct Certification with Medicaid for Free and Reduced-Price Meals (DCM-F/RP) Demonstrations, Year 2

This report examines the impact of using Medicaid data to directly certify students for free and reduced-price school meals in the National School Lunch and School Breakfast Programs in 15 states in school year 2017-18. Certification, participation and reimbursement outcomes for Cohort 1 states in their second year of implementation and Cohort 2 states in their first year of implementation are discussed.

09/15/2020
Resource | Fact Sheets Proposed Rule: Revision of SNAP Categorical Eligibility

In July 2019, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) published a proposed rule entitled “Revision of Categorical Eligibility in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP)." This action closes a loophole that allows states to make participants in certain programs “categorically eligible” to participate in SNAP.

07/23/2019
Resource | Research | Demonstrations Evaluation of Demonstrations of National School Lunch Program and School Breakfast Program Direct Certification of Children Receiving Medicaid Benefits: Year 1 Report

The Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010 (HHFKA; PL 111-296) required the USDA Food and Nutrition Service to conduct a demonstration that adds Medicaid to the list of programs used to directly certify students for free school meals. Although students receiving Medicaid are not categorically eligible for free meals, the DC-M demonstration authorizes selected States and districts to use income information from Medicaid files to directly certify those students found to be eligible for free meals.

01/27/2015
Page updated: October 14, 2021