The Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010 directed the Department of Agriculture to establish nutrition standards for all foods and beverages sold to students on the school campus during the school day, including foods sold through school fundraisers.
This memorandum is to inform you that all foods of minimal nutritional value exemptions will end on June 30, 2014. Therefore, the attached list, Exemptions Under the Competitive Foods Regulation will become obsolete on July 1, 2014. Beginning July, 1, 2014, the interim final rule for Smart Snacks in School will go into effect for school year 2014-15. Therefore, any competitive foods and beverages must meet the nutrition standards specified in the interim final rule.
The purpose of this memorandum is to provide guidance regarding the treatment of culinary education programs that operate in schools participating in the federal school meal programs.
The purpose of this memorandum is to provide guidance regarding state agency responsibilities to establish limitations on the frequency of specially exempted fundraisers in schools.
The purpose of this memorandum is to clarify the status of grain-only items as entrées under the Interim Final Rule titled “National School Lunch Program and School Breakfast Program: Nutrition Standards for All Foods Sold in School as Required by the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010,” also known as the Smart Snacks in School rule.
FNS invites state agencies that administer the National School Lunch Program and School Breakfast Program to apply to participate in demonstration projects that will evaluate the effectiveness of conducting direct certification with the Medicaid program.
The new standards will allow schools to offer healthier snack foods for our children, while limiting junk food served to students. Students will still be able to buy snacks that meet common-sense standards for fat, saturated fat, sugar, and sodium, while promoting products that have whole grains, low fat dairy, fruits, vegetables or protein foods as their main ingredients.
This memorandum and its attachment supersede SP-37-2011, Child Nutrition 2010: Enhancing the School Food Safety Program. Attached are questions and answers regarding the school food safety requirements for schools participating in FNS child nutrition programs.
This memorandum satisfies GAO’s recommendations for the Food and Nutrition Service to issue more specific guidance to states and school districts regarding the applicability of the food safety inspections requirement in schools that do not prepare food, such as those that only serve pre-packaged meals or meals delivered from a central preparation location (referred to in this memorandum as service-only sites).
A number of schools nationwide are still having difficulty obtaining the two food safety inspections required by the Child Nutrition and WIC Reauthorization Act of 2004. Although FNS realizes that many of the difficulties schools face are beyond their control, we would like to stress that local program operators are responsible for requesting the food safety inspections from the public health department and documenting their efforts.