FNS Documents & Resources

School meals are required to meet specific nutrition standards to operate the school meals programs. The standards align school meals with the latest nutrition science and the real world circumstances of America’s schools. 

The purpose of this memorandum is to highlight state flexibilities and local choices for complying with the five-day reconciliation requirement in the Child and Adult Care Food Program.

This memorandum explains the grain requirements for the CACFP established in the final rule, “Child and Adult Care Food Program: Meal Pattern Revisions Related to the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010.” This revision further clarifies how to determine if a grain product meets the whole grain-rich criteria. 

This memorandum provides guidance to states, local operators, and their software vendors on strategies for leveraging the design flexibilities of online free and reduced price school meal applications to reduce household reporting mistakes and certification errors.

The manual provides comprehensive information on federal requirements, policies, and procedures, and is intended to help state agencies and local educational agencies accurately determine, certify, and verify children’s eligibility for free and reduced price school meals and free milk.

This question and answer memorandum is designed to provide practical guidance related to accommodating disabilities in the school meal programs, which are the National School Lunch Program, the School Breakfast Program, the Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Program, the Special Milk Program, and the NSLP Afterschool Snacks Program.

Local educational agencies participating in the National School Lunch Program and/or School Breakfast Program are required to develop a local school wellness policy that promotes the health of students and addresses the problem of childhood obesity.

This question and answer memorandum is designed to provide an overview of policies related to unpaid meal charges and to address common questions FNS has received from state agencies, school food authorities, and local program operators.

This memorandum explains the vegetable and fruit requirements in the CACFP and includes questions and answers.

This memorandum provides questions and answers on the meal pattern requirements for the Child and Adult Care Food Program.  FNS collected and answered a variety of questions since the updated meal patterns were published in April 2016.