FNS Documents & Resources

Meeting and conference call notes from the FDPIR Food Package Review Work Group.

The FDPIR Food Package Review Work Group was formed in 2002 at the request of the National Association of Food Distribution Programs on Indian Reservations (NAFDPIR). The Work Group members are comprised of NAFDPIR officials, representatives from the Indian Tribal Organizations (ITOs) and state agencies that administer FDPIR, federal and Tribal health professionals, commodity procurement specialists from USDA, and FNS regional and national office staff that work with FDPIR. The purpose of the Work Group is to review the FDPIR food package on an ongoing basis, with the goal of revising it to better meet the nutritional needs and food preferences of program participants without significantly increasing overall food package costs.

In appreciation of breastfeeding mothers and of all the dedicated volunteers, professionals, communities, and organizations who support their efforts, I, Sonny Perdue, Secretary of Agriculture, do hereby proclaim August 1-7, 2019, as National WIC Breastfeeding Week.

History of the Summer Food Service Program from 1968 - 2010.

939 – The First Food Stamp Program

The Farm Security and Rural Investment Act of 2002 authorized the Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Pilot in 4 states and 1 Indian Tribal Organization (Zuni, New Mexico). The purpose of the pilot was to determine the best practices for increasing fruit (both fresh and dried) and fresh vegetable consumption in schools.

On June 4, 1946, President Harry S. Truman signed the National School Lunch Act (NSLA), which permanently authorized the National School Lunch Program. The legislation was passed in response to concerns that “many American men had been rejected for World War II military service because of diet-related health problems.” Its purpose was to provide a market for agricultural production and to improve the health and well-being of the nation’s youth.

In 1994, the Food and Nutrition Service began working with the Agricultural Marketing Service and other agencies in and out of government to explore options for providing more fresh fruit and vegetable products to schools. This meeting led to talks with the Department of Defense, Defense Personnel Support Center, now known as the Defense Supply Center Philadelphia (DSCP) to enter into a pilot project to supply fresh fruit and vegetables directly to schools along with their deliveries to military installations or other sites in the United States.

School food service programs such as we have in 1971 did not just happen over-night nor even during the past decade. Preceding today's programs is a long history of more than a hundred years of development, of testing and evaluating, and of constant research to provide the best in nutrition, nutrition education, and food service for the nation's millions of children in school. 

Letter to Ron Vogel regarding potential procurement violations.