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USDA and the Biden Administration are committed to supporting nutrition security – consistent access to nutritious foods that promote good health – through the federal nutrition assistance programs. School nutrition professionals have made incredible strides in strengthening child nutrition over the past decade; research shows school meals are the healthiest meals children eat in a day!
Here are some ways USDA is proposing to make school meals even more nourishing, while still keeping them appealing to kids.
USDA is proposing science-based updates to the school meal standards to make them even more nourishing for kids, yet feasible for our school meal partners. This infographic shows the proposed implementation timeline for updating the school meal standards.
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.
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.
The Farm to School Census and Comprehensive Review includes the 2019 Farm to School Census; a descriptive review of the USDA Farm to School grant program; a review of published research on farm to school since 2010; and a set of interviews with school food distributors.
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.