FNS Documents & Resources

This memorandum provides information on the revised Prototype Application for Free and Reduced Price School Meals. USDA updated the prototype application to improve the user experience for applicants by adjusting the reading level, streamlining the application instructions, and by adding clarity to the mailing instructions to reduce the number of applications sent to the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights.

The Agricultural Act of 2014 required the establishment of a Multi-Agency Task Force to provide coordination and direction for USDA Foods administered by FNS. FNS submits this report to the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry and the House of Representatives Committee on Agriculture.

The Agricultural Act of 2014 required the establishment of a Multi-Agency Task Force to provide coordination and direction for USDA Foods administered by FNS. FNS submits this report covering the period of January 2021 through July 2022 to the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry and the House of Representatives Committee on Agriculture.

The purpose of this memorandum is to provide guidance to state agencies and school food authorities on the paid lunch equity requirements for school year 2023-24. It explains the exemption provided in the Consolidated Appropriations Act 2023 and provides guidance for SFAs that do not qualify for the exemption, including those who may be returning to PLE requirements for the first time in a few years.

In April 2022, federal agencies transitioned from use of the DUNS number to the Unique Entity Identifier. Child Nutrition Program Operators are required to have the UEI to receive payments from state agencies who administer the child nutrition programs on behalf of the federal government. This memorandum provides answers to questions related to the transition.

The purpose of this memorandum is to revise guidance on rural designations in the Summer Food Service Program and the National School Lunch Program’s Seamless Summer Option (SSO). The Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2023 authorized a permanent non-congregate meal service option through the SFSP and SSO for children who live in rural communities with no congregate meal service. This memorandum supersedes SFSP policy memorandum SFSP 17-2015, Rural Designations in the Summer Food Service Program – Revised, April 21, 2017.

This memorandum provides notice to child nutrition program operators regarding the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2023, enacted on Dec. 29, 2022. 

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This memorandum provides the information needed to conduct the FY 2023 reallocation of SAE funds in the child nutrition programs.

The purpose of this memorandum is to provide guidance regarding the expiration of the offsite monitoring for CACFP and the School Meal Programs after the COVID-19 public health emergency ends.