This final rule - Child Nutrition Programs: Revisions to Meal Patterns Consistent with the 2020 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.
School nutrition professionals continue to make school meals the healthiest meals children eat in a day! To take school meals to the next level, USDA is updating the school nutrition standards after considering recommendations from the most recent Dietary Guidelines for Americans and listening to a diverse range of voices with experience in child nutrition and health.
Provisions in the final rule that could impact CACFP and/or SFSP.
USDA is implementing regulatory changes to the SFSP that simplify program requirements and improve the customer experience.
USDA is committed to providing nutrition assistance to hard-hit families across the country due to the coronavirus pandemic. In support of President Biden’s call to action on hunger, USDA announced that it is increasing the Pandemic EBT benefit by approximately 15 percent, providing more money for low-income families and millions of children missing meals due to school and child care closures.
At this time, only certain states are operating with online purchasing capabilities. FNS is working with other states interested in expanding online purchasing.
The following documents are located in the Disaster SNAP Guidance and D-SNAP Toolkit, but have been separated out for convenient access as they are among the most frequently used tools by states during D-SNAP planning, operations, and reporting.
The purpose of this memorandum is to advise state agencies on the steps the Food and Nutrition Service will take to monitor and engage state agencies with poor SNAP initial application processing timeliness rates.