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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. 

Nutrition leaders and mothers from across the country praised USDA’s finalized updates to the WIC food package and the positive implications it will have for women, infants, and young children who rely on this vital program.

Secretary Tom Vilsack announced today that USDA’s Food and Nutrition Service has finalized updates to the foods prescribed to participants in the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC).

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack today announced that four school districts in Alaska, Iowa, Maine, and Ohio received awards for their trailblazing and innovative efforts to improve the nutritional quality of meals for their students.

WIC is vital to the health and well-being of nearly half of our nation’s babies, along with millions of young children up to age 5 and their mothers. Yet, recent research based on 2021 data published by FNS shows more than 6 million of those who are eligible for the program are missing out on its proven health benefits.   

Today, USDA released the Household Food Security in the United States in 2022 report, which examined American households’ ability to access sufficient food last year. 

This week, USDA joined students, parents/caregivers, schools, communities, and partners across the country in recognizing National School Lunch Week, as proclaimed by President Biden. October is also Farm to School Month, which recognizes the benefits of incorporating healthy, locally grown foods into school meals.

USDA today announced that it is giving an estimated 3,000 more school districts in high-need areas the option to serve breakfast and lunch to all students at no cost, by expanding the availability of the Community Eligibility Provision, commonly known as CEP.

USDA’s Food and Nutrition Service awarded a cooperative agreement of nearly $10 million to the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in support of ongoing efforts to modernize and enhance WIC, with the goal of helping all eligible mothers and children access the program to afford healthy food. 

As part of a cooperative agreement to develop and implement the USDA’s Healthy Meals Incentives Initiative, Action for Healthy Kids today announced that it is awarding nearly $30 million in subgrants to 264 school districts across 44 states and the District of Columbia, reaching students in some of the nation’s highest need schools.

The USDA today announced it has awarded a cooperative agreement to Regents of the University of Minnesota to support the development of the public health workforce in WIC. This cooperative agreement is part of a joint initiative between USDA’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture and FNS intended to improve the health of WIC participants by increasing the diversity and cultural competency of the WIC workforce and promoting culturally responsive care.

USDA shepherded in the 2023 summer campaign of the Feds Feed Families program, a voluntary food drive that encourages federal employees to make in-kind contributions, including food, services, and time, to food banks and pantries of their choice. This year’s theme is Fighting Hunger – Giving Hope.

The USDA, through a cooperative agreement with FNS and the Food Research & Action Center, has awarded $16 million in subgrants funding from the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 to 36 projects aimed at testing innovative outreach strategies to increase participation and equity in the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children, known as WIC.