News Item
Biden-Harris Administration Announces New School Meal Standards to Strengthen Child Nutrition
Secretary Tom Vilsack announced major steps to promote the health of America’s children through school meals. Nutrition standards for school meals will be gradually updated to include less sugar and flexibility with menu planning between Fall 2025 and Fall 2027. The Department arrived at these changes after listening closely to public feedback and considering the latest science-based recommendations from the Dietary Guidelines for Americans.
04/24/2024
Subscriber Updates
Improvements Coming Soon for Monitoring of Child Nutrition Programs
FNS published a proposed rule that will help ensure the federal child nutrition programs are being operated properly. These regulatory updates will strengthen and clarify the process for correcting serious deficiencies found in FNS’ child nutrition programs.
02/20/2024
Subscriber Updates
Child Nutrition Program Integrity Final Rule
FNS published a final rule on program integrity to ensure that child nutrition programs are properly operated and managed to protect federal funds and taxpayer dollars.
08/23/2023
Blog
Connecting Kids To Meals: A Valued Resource For Kids In Northwest Ohio
Connecting Kids to Meals, known as CKM, is a nonprofit agency in Toledo, Ohio, that provides healthy meals at no cost to at-risk kids in low-income and underserved areas of Northwest Ohio. With a nearly 20-year history of feeding hungry kids, the critical work of CKM becomes more important every day.
05/22/2023
Blog
Harvesting Health All Summer Long
The FNS Turnip the Beet awards recognize outstanding summer meal program sponsors for going above and beyond, ensuring children receive high quality meals in a fun, safe and healthy learning environment when school is out.
07/06/2022
Blog
Cooking up Success as a CACFP Sponsor
The FNS Mid-Atlantic Region recently joined forces with the New Jersey Department of Agriculture to recognize Programs for Parents, a Child and Adult Care Food Program sponsor in Essex County, NJ, with a regional CACFP Achievement Award for their creative and dedicated efforts to promote nutrition security among children.
06/22/2022
News Item
Statement from Secretary Tom Vilsack on Congressional Deal for Child Nutrition
USDA’s child nutrition programs provide nutritious meals to America’s children. The school and other nutrition professionals who make these meals possible need additional resources and continued flexibilities as they grapple with the ongoing challenges presented by the pandemic. The deal would ease uncertainty and bring a measure of relief to our schools, summer sites and child care feeding programs - Secretary Vilsack.
06/22/2022
News Item
USDA Announces Actions on Nutrition Security
During a visit to Columbia University and in celebration of National Nutrition Month, Secretary Vilsack today announced a report detailing USDA's Actions on Nutrition Security.
03/17/2022
News Item
USDA Tackles Food Insecurity, Expands Program Access
FNS today reflected on its efforts over the past year to ensure households across the country have access to a nutritious diet. Throughout the first year of the Biden-Harris Administration, FNS bolstered its nutrition assistance programs through a wide range of administrative actions and with the unprecedented $12 billion investment in food assistance provided by the American Rescue Plan Act.
01/20/2022
News Item
USDA Modernizes the Thrifty Food Plan, Updates SNAP Benefits
USDA today released a re-evaluation of the Thrifty Food Plan, used to calculate SNAP benefits. As a result, the average SNAP benefit – excluding additional funds provided as part of pandemic relief – will increase for fiscal year 2022 beginning on Oct. 1, 2021.
08/16/2021
Page updated: February 09, 2021