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Resource | Infographics How We Got Here: School Nutrition Standards Final Rule

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.

04/24/2024
Resource | Notices Child Nutrition Programs Income Eligibility Guidelines (2022-2023)

This notice announces the Department's annual adjustments to the Income Eligibility Guidelines to be used in determining eligibility for free and reduced price meals and free milk for the period from July 1, 2022 through June 30, 2023. 

02/16/2022
Resource | Infographics Ten Reasons to Support Nutritious School Meals

School meals are one of the most important tools for ensuring children have access to healthy and nutritious food. USDA strengthened school meal standards in 2012. Research on the impact of these changes emphasizes why we must support nutritious school meals.

02/04/2022
Resource | Notices Correction: National School Lunch, Special Milk, and School Breakfast Programs, National Average Payments/Maximum Reimbursement Rates

The Food and Nutrition Service published a document on July 16, 2021, concerning reimbursement rates for the National School Lunch, Special Milk, and School Breakfast Programs. The document contained an incorrect table entry.

08/31/2021
Resource | Notices Request for Information: Buy American in the National School Lunch Program and School Breakfast Program

This is a request for information from stakeholders, including local operators, state administrators, industry and producers, about the Buy American provision in the National School Lunch Program and the School Breakfast Program. The programs play a critical role in ensuring that America's children have access to nutritious food they need to learn and succeed in the classroom, in addition to supporting American agriculture, and small, minority, and women's businesses and agricultural producers.

08/04/2021
Resource | Notices | Assessing/Improving Operations Information Collection: Fourth Access, Participation, Eligibility and Certification Study Series (APEC IV)

This collection is a reinstatement, with change, of a previously approved collection for which approval has expired for the fourth Access, Participation, Eligibility, and Certification study series (APEC IV).

08/04/2021
Resource | Notices School Meals Programs - National Average Payments/Maximum Reimbursement Rates (July 1, 2021 - June 30, 2022)

This notice announces the annual adjustments to the national average payments, the amount of money the federal government provides states for lunches, afterschool snacks, and breakfasts served to children participating in the National School Lunch and School Breakfast Programs; to the maximum reimbursement rates, the maximum per lunch rate from federal funds that a state can provide a school food authority for lunches served to children participating in the National School Lunch Program; and to the rate of reimbursement for a half-pint of milk served to non-needy children in a school or institution that participates in the Special Milk Program for Children.

07/16/2021
Resource | Infographics Updated Nutrition Standards Posed Challenges but Achieved Underlying Goals

Findings are from the School Nutrition and Meal Cost Study, which  provides information about a broad array of topics, including the food and nutrient content of school meals, the costs of school meals, the food environments in schools, and the contribution of school meals to children’s overall diets. 

06/01/2021
Resource | Infographics School Meals Are More Nutritious After Updated Nutrition Standards

Findings are from the School Nutrition and Meal Cost Study, which provides information about a broad array of topics, including the food and nutrient content of school meals, the costs of school meals, the food environments in schools, and the contribution of school meals to children’s overall diets. 

06/01/2021
Resource | Infographics Progress Toward Implementing Updated Nutrition Standards

Findings are from the School Nutrition and Meal Cost Study, which provides information about a broad array of topics, including the food and nutrient content of school meals, the costs of school meals, the food environments in schools, and the contribution of school meals to children’s overall diets. 

06/01/2021
Page updated: October 14, 2021