FNS Documents & Resources

This is a revision of a currently approved information collection. Section 17 of the National School Lunch Act, as amended (42 USC 1766), authorizes the Child and Adult Care Program. Under this program, the Secretary of Agriculture is authorized to provide cash reimbursement and commodity assistance, on a per meal basis, for food service to children in nonresidential child care centers and family or group day care homes, and to eligible adults in nonresidential adult day care centers. 

The Child Nutrition Program Operations Study II (CN-OPS II) is a multiyear study that provides FNS with information on current state agency and school food authority policies, practices, and needs related to school nutrition service operations, financial management, meal counting, training and professional standards, food service equipment, and technology. 

This is a Request for Information to help the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Agriculture develop the additional criteria, as authorized in the Agriculture Improvement Act of 2018, for a self-determination demonstration project related to the purchase of agricultural commodities for the Food Distribution Program on Indian Reservations. USDA requests feedback from Indian Tribal Organizations and state agencies that administer FDPIR, Tribal leaders and representatives, and Tribal associations.

This Notice supersedes the notice published in the Aug. 7, 2019 issue of the Federal Register entitled National School Lunch, Special Milk, and School Breakfast Programs, National Average Payments/Maximum Reimbursement Rates (FR Doc. 84-38590). It establishes new reimbursement rates for Guam and Virgin Islands to match the reimbursement rate provided to Puerto Rico, and corrects an incorrect date.

This action delays, from Oct. 1, 2019 until Oct. 1, 2021, the implementation date of the “ounce equivalents” requirement for crediting grains served in the Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP). The final rule, Child and Adult Care Food Program: Meal Pattern Revisions Related to the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010, published on April 25, 2016, specified that meal planners must use ounce equivalents to determine the amount of creditable grain served as part of a reimbursable meal or snack.

The Study of Food Safety Needs of Adult Day Care Centers in the Child and Adult Care Food Program report identified and evaluated food safety knowledge gaps and education needs of adult day care center program operators. Overall, this study provides information on knowledge gaps related to food safety practices in adult day care centers and illuminates the best way for center staff to receive future food safety training and information support.

FNS conducted a study of the first two years of this demonstration to describe the implementation process and explore the effects on certification, participation, federal reimbursements, and state administrative costs. This report presents the findings from the first year of the demonstration evaluation, school year 2016–17.

Notice is hereby given that the national average minimum value of donated foods, or cash in lieu thereof, per lunch under the NSLP and per lunch and supper under the CACFP  shall be 23.75 cents for the period July 1, 2019 through June 30, 2020.

The Evaluation of the School Meal Data Collection Process study describes and evaluates the methodologies and processes used by schools, school food authorities and state agencies to collect and report data on three FNS forms used for the federal school meal programs: the Report of School Program Operations (FNS-10), the SFA Verification Collection Report (FNS-742), and the State Agency Direct Certification Rate Data Element Report (FNS-834). In addition to describing the processes, the study identifies potential sources of error when completing the three forms and provides useful practices and recommendations for improving data collection processes.

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.