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.
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.
The purpose of this memorandum is to outline the use of Offer Versus Serve in the adult day care and at-risk afterschool settings, as well as the use of family style meals in the Child and Adult Care Food Program.
The Child Nutrition rule, “Child Nutrition Programs: Community Eligibility Provision—Increasing Options for Schools” amends the regulations associated with the School Meals Program, which consists of the National School Lunch Program and the School Breakfast Program.
This guide informs small entities participating in child nutrition programs about the final rule, Child Nutrition Programs: Meal Patterns Consistent With the 2020-2025 Dietary Guidelines for Americans, and how to comply with it. This guide does not include any new requirements; it just summarizes existing guidance related to the final rule.
A webinar for state agency and school food authority staff focused on the Final Rule: Child Nutrition Programs: Meal Patterns Consistent With The 2020-2025 Dietary Guidelines For Americans.
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.
Schools provide some of the healthiest meals that kids eat which play an important role in providing the nutrition they need to grow and learn and school meals are about to get even better We know you want the best for our nation's children and USDA is investing in school meals to make them even healthier over the next several years.
The final rule - Child Nutrition Programs: Revisions to Meal Patterns Consistent with the 2020 Dietary Guidelines for Americans - is the next step in an ongoing effort toward healthier school meals that USDA and the broader school meals community have been partnering on for well over a decade. This table is a reference tool for stakeholders to visualize the proposed implementation timeline.