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 tip sheet was designed for school foodservice professionals to provide an overview of Offer versus Serve guidance for lunch meal service.

This poster is designed to educate high school students in selecting a reimbursable lunch under Offer versus Serve.

This poster is designed to educate middle school students in selecting a reimbursable lunch under Offer versus Serve.

This poster is designed to educate elementary school students  in selecting a reimbursable lunch under Offer versus Serve.

These materials can be used as tools to educate students and school nutrition professionals on Offer vs Serve.

The findings described in this webinar are based on two analyses. One that estimated the percentage of daily and weekly lunch menus that met the updated nutrition standards, and another that examined the nutritional quality of the lunches using the Healthy Eating Index-2010.

This study updates a 2009 analysis of the nutrient and food group content of the USDA Foods offered and delivered through federal nutrition assistance programs. The study also estimated the Healthy Eating Index (HEI) scores under the HEI-2010 and the HEI-2005 scoring systems for each program’s benefits.

Offer versus Serve is a provision in the NSLP and School Breakfast Program that allows students to decline some of the food offered. The goals of OVS are to reduce food waste in the school meals programs while permitting students to decline foods they do not intend to eat. 

This instruction is intended to clarify allowable variations to child nutrition program food components in order to meet religious needs among Jewish schools, institutions and sponsors.