FNS Documents & Resources

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.

Guidance, resources, best practices, and training for CACFP operators to support them in providing healthy, balanced meals and snacks to the children and adults they serve.

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.

This factsheet explains how USDA Foods support the Dietary Guidelines for Americans and the school meal pattern requirements to make it easier for schools to prepare healthy meals using local foods.

A compilation of resources for operators of USDA Foods in Schools and child nutrition programs.  

Welcome to the USDA Food and Nutrition Service’s Household Certification Training course for the Food Distribution Program on Indian Reservations. FDPIR is a federal program that provides USDA foods to low-income households living on Indian reservations, in designated areas near reservations, and in the State of Oklahoma. FNS developed the FDPIR Household Certification Training course to help Indian Tribal Organization (ITO) and state agency certification workers and their supervisors successfully administer the program.

On Dec. 27, 2020, the President signed into law the Consolidated Appropriations Act 2021. This Act excludes federal pandemic unemployment compensation payments authorized under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act from consideration as income for the purposes of determining FDPIR eligibility. 

This study will collect a broad range of data from a nationally representative sample of sponsors, directors, food preparers and/or provider staff of childcare centers, family day care home and after-school programs that participate in CACFP and those that do not participate in the program, and from the children and parents of children receiving care from CACFP childcare centers, family day care homes, and after-school programs during 2015-2016. 

This memorandum provides revised policy guidance on certification periods pertaining to zero income households in FDPIR. FNS Handbook 501 provides that households who report zero income month after month must be asked as to how they sustain themselves and other household members.

This rule amends the regulations affecting the determination of children's eligibility for free meals under the National School Lunch Program and the School Breakfast Program by direct certification and categorical eligibility. Conforming changes and miscellaneous technical changes are also made, as appropriate, for the Special Milk Program for Children, the Child and Adult Care Food Program and the Summer Food Service Program.