FNS Documents & Resources

Attached are Q&As on the final rule Child Nutrition Programs: Flexibilities for Milk, Whole Grains, and Sodium Requirements (83 FR 63775, Dec. 12, 2018), which provides menu planning flexibilities in the child nutrition programs beginning July 1, 2019.

This memorandum provides guidance on crediting popcorn in the child nutrition programs, including the National School Lunch Program, School Breakfast Program, Child and Adult Care Food Program and Summer Food Service Program.

This memorandum informs stakeholders on the progress made by FNS in updating the food crediting system for all child nutrition programs. This is a first step towards improving the crediting system to best address today’s evolving food and nutrition environment and meet the needs of those operating and benefiting from the CNPs.

On April 25, 2016, FNS published the final rule “Child and Adult Care Food Program: Meal Pattern Revisions Related to the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010." Child nutrition program operators were required to comply with these updated meal pattern requirements no later than Oct. 1, 2017.

FNS staff discuss the updated preschool meal patterns in the National School Lunch Program (including snack service) and School Breakfast Program, as well as the updated milk requirements in the Special Milk Program, which went into effect on Oct. 1, 2017.

On April 25, 2016, FNS published the final rule, “Child and Adult Care Food Program: Meal Pattern Revisions Related to the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010” to update the National School Lunch Program’s and School Breakfast Program’s meal pattern requirements for infants and preschoolers.

This memorandum provides guidance on meals served to preschoolers when they are in the same service area at the same time as grade K-5 students, and it includes Questions and Answers. Additional guidance on the National School Lunch Program’s and School Breakfast Program’s infant and preschool meal pattern requirements will be issued soon.

This memorandum, which was in effect from May 10, 2017 through Sept. 30, 2018, outlined a transition period for implementing the updated CACFP meal patterns and the updated infant and preschool meal patterns in the national school lunch and school breakfast programs.

The purpose of this memorandum is to provide guidance on meal service requirements in the Summer Food Service Program and the National School Lunch Program’s Seamless Summer Option.

This final rule updates the meal pattern requirements for the Child and Adult Care Food Program to better align them with the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, as required by the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010.