News Item
Biden-Harris Administration Announces New School Meal Standards to Strengthen Child Nutrition
Secretary Tom Vilsack announced major steps to promote the health of America’s children through school meals. Nutrition standards for school meals will be gradually updated to include less sugar and flexibility with menu planning between Fall 2025 and Fall 2027. The Department arrived at these changes after listening closely to public feedback and considering the latest science-based recommendations from the Dietary Guidelines for Americans.
04/24/2024
Subscriber Updates
Child Nutrition Program Integrity Final Rule
FNS published a final rule on program integrity to ensure that child nutrition programs are properly operated and managed to protect federal funds and taxpayer dollars.
08/23/2023
Blog
Connecting Local Producers to Montana Schools
Bringing together local producers and schools was the objective of the “Bringing the Farm to School” producer training in Hardin, Montana. The training sought to build relationships between schools and producers to increase the availability of local foods served to children.
05/31/2023
News Item
USDA Announces New Investments in School Meals to Support Healthy Kids
USDA announced several actions to expand support for and access to the school meal programs, including awarding $50 million in grants that will increase collaboration between schools, food producers and suppliers, and other partners to develop nutritious, appetizing school meals for kids.
03/22/2023
Blog
Harvesting Health All Summer Long
The FNS Turnip the Beet awards recognize outstanding summer meal program sponsors for going above and beyond, ensuring children receive high quality meals in a fun, safe and healthy learning environment when school is out.
07/06/2022
News Item
USDA Supports Equity, Inclusion in Nutrition Assistance Programs
FNS is committed to promoting equity and inclusion through its federal nutrition assistance programs and today, is celebrating advancements made over the past year while acknowledging the long journey ahead. Throughout the past year, the Biden-Harris Administration and USDA have worked side-by-side to provide those in need with better, fairer access to a healthy diet, with a focus on closing gaps in access for historically disadvantaged and underserved populations.
01/20/2022
Subscriber Updates
USDA Publishes Proposed Rule Maintaining School Meal Flexibilities
In line with USDA’s unwavering promise to serve America’s children well through school meal programs, the department today announced it will publish a proposed rule maintaining flexibility for schools to serve tasty meals their kids will be eager to eat. These proposed changes respond directly to the needs of nutrition professionals who are the experts on-the-ground, hearing from our children every day.
11/24/2020
News Item
Responding to the Needs of Local Schools, USDA Publishes School Meals Final Rule
Secretary Sonny Perdue today empowered local schools with additional options to serve healthy and appealing meals. A final rule on school meal flexibilities, to be published later this month in the Federal Register, increases local flexibility in implementing school nutrition standards for milk, whole grains, and sodium. Secretary Perdue said the final rule will deliver on USDA's promise, made in a May 2017 proclamation, to develop forward-thinking strategies that ensure school nutrition standards are both healthful and practical.
12/06/2018
News Item
USDA Announces More Local Control for School Meal Operations
Deputy Secretary Steve Censky today announced two new efforts to provide states and school districts with additional flexibility and support to operate more efficient school meal programs. Censky made the announcement during a speech at the School Nutrition Association Legislative Action Conference.
03/05/2018
Page updated: February 09, 2021
