FNS Documents & Resources

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 document contains a correction to the final rule published in the Federal Register on March 2, 2015, "Professional Standards for State and Local School Nutrition Programs Personnel as Required by the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010."

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).

This memorandum and attached Q&As clarify and highlight the use of state administrative expense funds, both as initially allocated and when reallocated, and state administrative funds for state-level coordination of farm to school activities related to the administration of the child nutrition programs.

This final rule establishes minimum professional standards for school nutrition personnel who manage and operate the National School Lunch and School Breakfast Programs.

The Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010 required the Food and Nutrition Service to conduct a demonstration that adds Medicaid to the list of programs used to directly certify students for free school meals. Although students receiving Medicaid are not categorically eligible for free meals, the DC-M demonstration authorizes selected States and districts to use income information from Medicaid files to directly certify those students found to be eligible for free meals.

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.

The purpose of this memorandum is to provide guidance on meal service requirements in the Summer Food Service Program (SFSP) and the National School Lunch Program’s (NSLP) Seamless Summer Option (SSO).

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.

To assist state agencies and FNS to better monitor the use of Section 201 funds, as mentioned in our August 15, 2014 memorandum SP60-2014 (Second Extension of Grant Period for State Administrative Funds to Implement New Meal Pattern Requirements), FNS has changed the frequency of financial reporting from annual reporting to quarterly reporting beginning with the fiscal year (FY) 2015.