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This final rule amends the Community Eligibility Provision (CEP) regulations by lowering the minimum identified student percentage (ISP) from 40 percent to 25 percent.
This action implements statutory requirements and policy improvements to strengthen administrative oversight and operational performance of the Child Nutrition Programs.
USDA is extending the public comment period on the proposed rule, “Child Nutrition Programs: Revisions to Meal Patterns Consistent With the 2020 Dietary Guidelines for Americans,” to May 10, 2023.
This rulemaking proposes long-term school nutrition standards based on the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, 2020-2025, and feedback the USDA received from child nutrition program stakeholders during a robust stakeholder engagement campaign.
This rulemaking proposes to expand access to the Community Eligibility Provision by lowering the minimum identified student percentage participation threshold from 40 percent to 25 percent, which would give states and schools greater flexibility to choose to invest non-federal funds to offer no-cost meals to all enrolled students.
National School Lunch Program and School Breakfast Program sodium limits and timeline
The tip sheet provides a list of suggested practices that program operators may adopt to assist with proper meal counting and claiming when meals are served in alternative locations.
This rulemaking proposes to codify three menu planning flexibilities established by the interim final rule titled, Child Nutrition Programs: Flexibilities for Milk, Whole Grains, and Sodium Requirements published Nov. 30, 2017, and made permanent with some modifications by a final rule of the same title published Dec. 12, 2018, hereafter referred to as the 2018 Final Rule. An April 2020 court decision vacated and remanded the 2018 Final Rule.
This final rule removes from the Code of Federal Regulations the final rule published on Dec. 12, 2018, titled, “Child Nutrition Programs: Flexibilities for Milk, Whole Grains, and Sodium Requirements.” This action responds to a decision of the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland that vacated the rule.