This rulemaking proposes long-term school nutrition standards based on the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, 2020-2025, and feedback the USDA received from child nutrition program stakeholders during a robust stakeholder engagement campaign.
This rulemaking proposes to revise regulations governing the WIC food packages to align them with the current Dietary Guidelines for Americans and reflect recommendations made by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine in its 2017 report, “Review of WIC Food Packages: Improving Balance and Choice. while promoting nutrition security and taking into account program administration considerations.
This proposed rule would implement provisions of the Food, Conservation and Energy Act of 2008 affecting the eligibility, benefits, certification, and employment and training requirements for applicant or participant households in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.
This document informs the public about a change in the Dietary Guidelines for Americans that affects the proposed rule "Nutrition Standards in the National School Lunch and School Breakfast Programs'' issued by the Department of Agriculture and published in the Federal Register on Jan. 13, 2011.
The purpose of this proposed rule is to incorporate this procurement option in the programs' regulations and to define the term "unprocessed locally grown or locally raised agricultural products'' to ensure that both the intent of Congress in providing for such a procurement option is met and that any such definition will facilitate ease of implementation for institutions participating in the child nutrition programs.
This proposed rule would revise regulations governing the WIC food packages to align the WIC food packages with the 2005 Dietary Guidelines for Americans and current infant feeding practice guidelines of the American Academy of Pediatrics, better promote and support the establishment of successful long-term breastfeeding, provide WIC participants with a wider variety of food, provide WIC state agencies with greater flexibility in prescribing food packages to accommodate participants with cultural food preferences, and serve participants with certain qualifying conditions under one food package to facilitate efficient management of medically fragile participants.
The Department is soliciting public comments on redesigning the food packages offered through the WIC program to determine if the WIC food packages should be revised to better improve the nutritional intake, health and development of participants; and, if so, what specific changes should be made to the food packages.
The National School Lunch Act requires that schools that are participating in the National School Lunch or School Breakfast Programs claim reimbursements only for lunches or breakfasts which meet the nutrition standards of the National School Lunch Act, including compliance with the Dietary Guidelines for Americans.