FNS Documents & Resources

This brochure provides information on USDA Professional Standards for school nutrition professionals.

Pregnant, postpartum and breastfeeding women, infants, and children up to age 5 are eligible. They must meet income guidelines, a state residency requirement, and be individually determined to be at "nutritional risk" by a health professional.

The Professional Standards Summary of Updates flyer provides an overview of the professional standards requirements which consist of hiring standards and annual training requirements for state directors of school nutrition programs, state director of distributing agencies, school nutrition program directors, managers, and staff.

El boletín de resumen de las actualizaciones de los estándares profesionales proporciona un informe acerca de los requisitos de los estándares profesionales e incluye los criterios de contratación y los requisitos de capacitación anual para directores estatales de programas de nutrición escolar, directores estatales de agencias distribuidoras, directores de programas de nutrición escolar, gerentes y personal.

Explore a world of possibilities in the garden and on your plate using ten inquiry-based lessons that engage 5th and 6th graders in growing, harvesting, tasting, and learning about fruits and vegetables.

This Q&A memorandum is designed to provide an overview of the policies related to the Professional Standards regulations for state and local school nutrition program personnel. 

This eleven-lesson curriculum for 3rd and 4th grades includes bulletin board materials, veggie dice, fruit and vegetable flash cards, and ten issues of Garden Detective News for parents/caregivers.

This resource is designed to help Child and Adult Care Food Program operators provide garden-based nutrition education for children ages 3 through 5 years in family child care settings.

FNS is issuing this memorandum in fulfillment of the commitment made in the preamble of the SNAP: Eligibility, Certification, and Employment and Training Provisions of the Food, Conservation, and Energy Act of 2008 final rule to provide additional guidance for state agencies on how to carry out the exclusion of certain military combat-related pay from income for purposes of SNAP eligibility determinations.

Recently, we have received several questions about the use of funds from the nonprofit school food service account to cover expenditures related to farm to school activities and school gardens. The questions and answers below address specific scenarios that school food authorities may be dealing with when considering the allowability of such costs.