FNS Documents & Resources

On April 25, 2024, FNS published the final rule, Child Nutrition Programs: Meal Patterns Consistent With the 2020-2025 Dietary Guidelines for Americans. This rule includes minor updates to the Child and Adult Care Food Program and Summer Food Service Program to better align Child Nutrition Program requirements. These updates represent continued progress toward supporting the nutrition quality of school meals, strengthening the Child Nutrition Programs, and advancing USDA’s commitment to nutrition security. 

Policy guidance, lessons learned, and toolkits to operate a successful D-SNAP program.

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.

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.

By law, certain adults without dependents can only receive SNAP benefits beyond three months in a three-year period unless they meet specific work requirements. We refer to this as the “time limit.”

Healthy Eating Index scores range from 0 to 100 and are a measure of diet quality used to assess how well a set of foods aligns with the Dietary Guidelines for Americans. A higher score is ideal. The FDPIR Food Package scores an 84. This is higher than the average U.S. diet, which scores a 59.

This webinar gives an overview of the rulemaking process, highlights specific regulatory changes and provisions that impact the school meal programs, and provides information regarding resources for the final rule.

This document provides SNAP state agencies with the federal “Go Live” requirements for transitioning from UAT to Pilot and Pilot to Rollout of a new or enhanced eligibility system.