FNS Documents & Resources

For children to grow and reach their full potential, it is critical that they have access to nutritious foods and develop lifelong healthy dietary habits.

Use these materials to bring your school community together to create strong school environments that support students’ growth, learning, and well-being. 

The Food Buying Guide for child nutrition programs has all of the current information in one manual to help you and your purchasing agent buy the right amount of food and the appropriate type of food for your program(s), and determine the specific contribution each food makes toward the meal pattern requirements.

This pre-recorded webinar features USDA Farm to School Program staff, who summarize grantee reporting requirements and review the processes for submitting no-cost extensions, as well as project and budget amendments.

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.

The Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010 added a new Section 23 on Childhood Hunger Research to the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act. This section provides substantial new mandatory funding to research the causes and consequences of childhood hunger and to test innovative strategies to end child hunger and food insecurity.

This memorandum clarifies how state agencies and school food authorities can use federal funds to support FoodCorps service members.

Section 304 of the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010 requires local educational agencies that demonstrate high levels of, or a high risk for administrative error associated with certification, verification and other administrative processes to conduct an independent review of the initial eligibility determinations for free and reduced price school meal applications for accuracy prior to notifying households of eligibility. 

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Food and Drug Administration (FDA) published the final rule, Nutrition Labeling of Standard Menu Items in Restaurants and Similar Retail Food Establishments in the Federal Register (79 FR 71155) on Dec. 1, 2014.

The Departments of Agriculture, Education and Health and Human Services issued a tri-agency letter outlining the categorical eligibility of children and youth in foster care for free school meals.