FNS Documents & Resources

These resources provide school nutrition professionals with the knowledge and tools to implement and meet the professional standards requirements within their programs.

Los estándares profesionales son una norma que determina los requisitos anuales de capacitación y criterios de contratación para profesionales en los programas de nutrición escolar. Estas normas brindan estándares profesionales consistentes a nivel nacional y fortalecen la capacidad de los profesionales de la nutrición escolar para desempeñar sus funciones de manera eficaz y eficiente.

Answers to some of the frequently asked questions about how TEFAP can support cultural and religious practices around food, particularly those serving kosher and halal observant communities.

A webinar for state agencies and local program operators sharing proactive strategies to prevent and manage unpaid meal charges as schools return to standard counting and claiming in SY 2022-23.

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 proposed rule would add four flexibilities to the hiring standards for new school nutrition program directors in small local educational agencies and new school nutrition program state directors under the professional standards regulations for the National School Lunch and School Breakfast Programs.

No later than July 1, 2017, all school food authorities (SFAs) operating National School Lunch and/or School Breakfast Program must have a written policy in place to address situations where children participating at the reduced price or paid rate do not have money to cover the cost of a meal at the time of the meal service. SFAs have discretion in developing the specifics of their policies, and FNS expects charge policies will vary based on local circumstances and available resources. This webinar provides an overview of the local charge policy requirement and shares best practices for successful policy development.

The Special Nutrition Program Operations Study is a multiyear study designed to provide the Food and Nutrition Service with a snapshot of current state and school food authority policies and practices of the school meal programs, including information on school meal standards, competitive foods standards, professional standards, school lunch pricing and accounting, and Smarter Lunchrooms activities. 

This final rule revises the state agency's administrative review process in the National School Lunch Program and School Breakfast Program to establish a unified accountability system designed to ensure that school food authorities offering school meals comply with program requirements.

This rule adopts as final, with some modifications, the National School Lunch Program and School Breakfast Program regulations set forth in the interim final rule published in the Federal Register on June 28, 2013. The requirements addressed in this rule conform to the provisions in the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010 regarding nutrition standards for all foods sold in schools, other than food sold under the lunch and breakfast programs.