As a reminder, meals and snacks offered through the child nutrition programs may be claimed for federal reimbursement if they meet the federal nutrition requirements and other federal regulations. State agencies may not withhold federal reimbursement for meals that meet the federal requirements, even if additional state requirements are not met. However, if a state provides an additional reimbursement above the federal reimbursement, they may withhold the state reimbursement.
Under the leadership of Secretary Brooke Rollins, USDA is prioritizing the clarification of statutory, regulatory, and administrative requirements of the National School Lunch Program and the School Breakfast Program.
This memorandum provides notice to child nutrition program operators regarding the Full-Year Continuing Appropriations and Extensions Act, 2025 (the 2025 Appropriations Act), March 15, 2025. This applies to state agencies administering, and local organizations operating, the USDA FNS child nutrition programs.
On April 25, 2024, FNS published the final rule, Child Nutrition Programs: Meal Patterns Consistent With the 2020-2025 Dietary Guidelines for Americans that included minor updates to CACFP and SFSP to better align child nutrition program requirements. These updates represent continued progress toward supporting the nutritional quality of school meals, strengthening the CNPs, and advancing USDA’s commitment to nutrition security.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food and Nutrition Service requests comments from the public to obtain input to help inform future policymaking, guidance, and technical assistance related to grain-based desserts and high-protein yogurt crediting in child nutrition programs.
This memorandum provides updated guidance on feeding infants and the infant meal pattern requirements.
This memorandum explains the grain requirements for the Child and Adult Care Food Program and includes questions and answers. This memorandum supersedes CACFP 09-2018, Grain Requirements in the Child and Adult Care Food Program; Questions and Answers, published April 4, 2018.
The Child Nutrition Database is a required part of the nutrient analysis software approved by USDA for use in the National School Lunch Program and School Breakfast Program. It is a nutrient database of over 9,000 food items.
The third annual survey of School Food Authorities found that 95 percent of SFAs faced supply-chain related challenges in school year (SY) 2023-24, but that the number of reported challenges and impacts they have on school food service have largely declined compared to SY 2022-23. This report is the third in the series and, like the others, reports findings from a 20-minute online questionnaire sent to all SFAs operating child nutrition programs in schools to gather information on the impacts of continued supply chain challenges
Meal pattern calculations for short and long weeks. This applies to schools who regularly operate on a shorter or longer weekly cycle.