FNS Documents & Resources

This memorandum informs stakeholders on the progress made by FNS in updating the food crediting system for all child nutrition programs. This is a first step towards improving the crediting system to best address today’s evolving food and nutrition environment and meet the needs of those operating and benefiting from the CNPs.

On April 25, 2016, FNS published the final rule “Child and Adult Care Food Program: Meal Pattern Revisions Related to the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010." Child nutrition program operators were required to comply with these updated meal pattern requirements no later than Oct. 1, 2017.

These colorful posters use photography shot specifically for settings participating in the Child and Adult Care Food Program.

Estos afiches coloridos usan fotografías específicas para sitios que participan en el Programa de Alimentos para el Cuidado de Niños y Adultos (CACFP, por sus siglas en inglés) y miden 11” x 17”. Estos afiches se pueden usar para fortalecer el conocimiento, las habilidades y la experiencia de los proveedores y operadores del CACFP para implementar los requisitos del patrón de comidas del CACFP.

FNS staff discuss the updated preschool meal patterns in the National School Lunch Program (including snack service) and School Breakfast Program, as well as the updated milk requirements in the Special Milk Program, which went into effect on Oct. 1, 2017.

On April 25, 2016, FNS published the final rule, “Child and Adult Care Food Program: Meal Pattern Revisions Related to the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010” to update the National School Lunch Program’s and School Breakfast Program’s meal pattern requirements for infants and preschoolers.

This memorandum provides guidance on meals served to preschoolers when they are in the same service area at the same time as grade K-5 students, and it includes Questions and Answers. Additional guidance on the National School Lunch Program’s and School Breakfast Program’s infant and preschool meal pattern requirements will be issued soon.

This final rule updates the meal pattern requirements for the Child and Adult Care Food Program to better align them with the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, as required by the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010.

Offer versus Serve is a provision in the NSLP and School Breakfast Program that allows students to decline some of the food offered. The goals of OVS are to reduce food waste in the school meals programs while permitting students to decline foods they do not intend to eat. 

This rule proposes changes to the meal pattern requirements for the Child and Adult Care Food Program to better align the meal patterns with the 2010 Dietary Guidelines for Americans, as required by the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010 (HHFKA).