FNS Documents & Resources

On April 25, 2024, FNS published the final rule, Child Nutrition Programs: Meal Patterns Consistent With the 2020-2025 Dietary Guidelines for Americans. This rule includes minor updates to the Child and Adult Care Food Program and Summer Food Service Program to better align Child Nutrition Program requirements. These updates represent continued progress toward supporting the nutrition quality of school meals, strengthening the Child Nutrition Programs, and advancing USDA’s commitment to nutrition security. 

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.

Healthy Eating Index scores range from 0 to 100 and are a measure of diet quality used to assess how well a set of foods aligns with the Dietary Guidelines for Americans. A higher score is ideal. The FDPIR Food Package scores an 84. This is higher than the average U.S. diet, which scores a 59.

These resources provide school nutrition professionals with the knowledge and tools to implement and meet the professional standards requirements within their programs.

In this webinar, Team Nutrition staff review the basic features of the Professional Standards Training Tracker Tool and highlight some of the latest updates to the tool, including the certifications feature.

Guidance, resources, best practices, and training for CACFP operators to support them in providing healthy, balanced meals and snacks to the children and adults they serve.

Los estándares profesionales son una norma que determina los requisitos anuales de capacitación y criterios de contratación para profesionales en los programas de nutrición escolar. Estas normas brindan estándares profesionales consistentes a nivel nacional y fortalecen la capacidad de los profesionales de la nutrición escolar para desempeñar sus funciones de manera eficaz y eficiente.

La guía de estándares profesionales para programas de nutrición escolar es el recurso principal que describe los requisitos de los estándares profesionales del USDA para los profesionales de la nutrición escolar a nivel estatal y local.