FNS Documents & Resources

Recently, FNS has received a number of questions related to buying local meat, poultry, game, and eggs; this memorandum seeks to clarify the regulatory requirements related to food safety and answer specific questions related to these products with a series of questions and answers.

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

This collection is an extension, without change, of a currently approved collection for assisting state agencies and school nutrition professionals in recording, tracking, and managing the required training hours for state and local school district nutrition professionals to meet the requirements of the Healthy Hunger Free Kids Act (HHFKA) of 2010 Professional Standards Rule.

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.

This tri-fold brochure provides information on the Professional Standards Training Tracker Tool (PSTTT). The PSTTT is a free, web-based tool available for school nutrition professionals to record their annually required training hours.

A central resource outlining the USDA Professional Standards requirements for state and local school nutrition professionals.

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. 

Professional Standards for school nutrition professionals is a key provision of the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010. The final rule, published March 2, 2015, requires a minimum amount of annual training hours for all state directors of school nutrition programs, state director of distributing agencies, school nutrition program directors, managers, and staff.

This final rule adds four flexibilities to the hiring standards for new school nutrition program directors in small local educational agencies and new state directors of school nutrition programs under the Professional Standards regulations for the National School Lunch Program and School Breakfast Program.

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.