FNS Documents & Resources

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).

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.

On July 16, 2012, FNS issued memorandum SP 38-2012, which allowed Residential Child Care Institutions, with state agency approval, to serve the National School Lunch Program meal pattern in effect for the highest age/grade group served to all residential students.

The purpose of this memorandum is to streamline the requirements for participation of school food authorities in the at-risk afterschool meals component of CACFP.

This provision requires state agencies to certify whether participating SFAs are in compliance with meal requirements and, therefore, eligible to receive performance-based cash assistance for each reimbursable lunch served (an additional six cents per lunch, adjusted annually, available beginning Oct. 1, 2012).

This document informs the public about a change in the Dietary Guidelines for Americans that affects the proposed rule "Nutrition Standards in the National School Lunch and School Breakfast Programs'' issued by the Department of Agriculture and published in the Federal Register on Jan. 13, 2011.

The Food and Nutrition Service is issuing final regulations amending the meal pattern for infants less than 12 months of age in the National School Lunch Program, the School Breakfast Program, and the Child and Adult Care Food Program.

CACFP benefits have been extended to include meal services to children who reside with their families in emergency shelters, under the National School Lunch Act. Because the circumstances of an emergency shelter are so different from any other type of CACFP institution, we thought it would be helpful to share these questions and our responses.

This rule amends the Child and Adult Care Food Program regulations to explicitly authorize the Department and state agencies to assess overclaims against institutions that fail to abide by CACFP recordkeeping requirements.