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.
USDA works with states and school nutrition professionals to provide kids with nutritious school meals that support their health and well-being. Learn about the financial support USDA has offered schools across the country since January 2021.
Media toolkit for USDA updates to the school nutrition standards in a few key areas to give kids the right balance of nutrients for healthy and appealing meals.
This final rule - Child Nutrition Programs: Meal Patterns Consistent With the 2020-2025 Dietary Guidelines for Americans - is the next step in continuing the science-based improvement of school meals and advancing USDA’s commitment to nutrition security.
Updated School Meal Standards: working towards a common goal of healthy children and helping them reach their full potential.
School meals will continue to include fruits and vegetables, emphasize whole grains, and give kids the right balance of nutrients for healthy, tasty meals. For the first time, schools will focus on products with less added sugar, especially in school breakfast.
Here's how the WIC food packages are changing.
USDA is investing in the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) and the WIC Farmers' Market Nutrition Program (FMNP) to reach more eligible families, keep families in WIC while they remain eligible, encourage families to redeem more of their food benefits, and advance equity. The dashboard tracks the progress of this work.
The Healthy Meals Incentives Initiative seeks to improve the nutritional quality of school meals through food systems transformation, SFA recognition and technical assistance, the generation and sharing of innovative ideas and tested practices.
To make sure that eligible families know about WIC and the benefits it provides, FNS is investing in outreach.