Newsroom

FNS teamed with San Angelo Independent School District today to celebrate National School Breakfast Week by emphasizing the administration's commitment to provide our nation's school children healthy, well-balanced meals to prepare for a productive school day. 

Today, Secretary Vilsack announced the recipes chosen to advance in First Lady Michelle Obama's Recipes for Healthy Kids competition and encouraged the public to vote for their favorite recipe now through May 15, 2011. USDA and the First Lady launched the Recipes for Healthy Kids competition last September, challenging teams of school nutrition professionals, chefs, students, and community members to develop creative, nutritious, and kid-approved recipes that schools can easily incorporate into National School Lunch Program menus.

Under Secretary, Kevin Concannon and Congressman Mike McIntyre visited Elizabethtown Primary School in Elizabethtown, N.C. today to celebrate School Breakfast Week and National Nutrition Month. During their visit they highlighted the importance of USDA's nutrition assistance programs that touch the lives of 1 in 4 Americans last year, including the nearly 32 million kids that participate in school meal programs every school day.

Secretary Tom Vilsack today marked National School Breakfast Week by emphasizing the administration's commitment to provide schoolchildren with healthy, well-balanced meals to prepare them for a productive school day. 

Today,  FNCS Under Secretary Kevin Concannon toured a local WIC clinic and highlight the impact of recent legislation reauthorizing the program. Concannon was joined by FNS Western Regional Administrator Allen Ng, at the visit to a clinic run by the largest WIC agency in the country, which serves approximately 4 percent of the nation's total and 23 percent of California's WIC recipients. 

USDA Under Secretary for Food, Nutrition, and Consumer Services Kevin Concannon today joined local business leaders, retailers and community members at Sedano's Supermarket to unveil the Spanish-language Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Retail (SNAP) Retailer Locator. The new online search tool is designed to help recipients find SNAP-authorized stores near their home or workplace. With one of the largest concentrations of Spanish speakers in the United States, Concannon emphasized the nutrition and economic stimulus benefits the new tool would have on Miami.

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack today made a statement on the proposed FY 2012 budget.

Under Secretary Kevin Concannon today joined Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter, Paul Davis, acting director of AmeriCorps VISTA, and Joel Berg, executive director of the New York City Coalition Against Hunger, to swear-in 46 members of the new National Anti-Hunger and Opportunity Corps, an AmeriCorps VISTA project. The new VISTA volunteers will work in both rural and urban areas in 18 states as part of a public-private partnership to increase access to the SNAP for Americans in need.

USDA People's Garden Director Livia Marqués, Washington Capitals Defensemen and 2011 NHL All-Star Mike Green, Comcast SportsNet analyst Alan May and Powell Elementary School Principal Janeece Docal launched a People's Garden Workshop today to design a garden at the school. Teachers, parents and every student in the school – 289 children from pre-Kindergarten to 4th grade – participated in the design process led by USDA employees.

Deputy Secretary Kathleen Merrigan today visited North Carolina State University to announce a grant to develop an obesity prevention program that increases access to healthy food and safe places for physical activity. The announcement was delivered as part of the first anniversary of First Lady Michelle Obama's Let's Move! initiative.

USDA Food, Nutrition, and Consumer Services Under Secretary Kevin Concannon today joined San Francisco Board of Education President Hydra Mendoza in a tour of E.R. Taylor Elementary School to see how the school exemplifies First Lady Obama's Let's Move! initiative, which is dedicated to solving the problem of obesity within a generation. They observed children participating in organized physical activity, visited the school garden, and participated in a cooking lesson. The event is one of dozens taking place around the country this week to inspire communities, families and schools to take action against childhood obesity.

USDA today announced that children placed into the foster care system by a state or court are categorically eligible to receive free meals in all USDA child nutrition programs. The expansion of categorical eligibility to foster children is a component of the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010 which President Obama signed into law Dec. 13, 2010.

Deputy Under Secretary Janey Thornton today joined Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro of Connecticut's 3rd Congressional District and Chef Timothy Cipriano, Executive Director, New Haven Public School Food Services, and New England Patriots' Ron Brace to unveil a new salad bar at Mauro-Sheridan Science, Technology and Communications School as part of Let's Move! Salad Bars to Schools.

Under Secretary Kevin Concannon today joined the District of Columbia State Superintendent of Education Hosanna Mahaley in a special ceremony to present Elsie Whitlow Stokes Community Freedom Public Charter School a USDA HealthierUS School Challenge Gold Award of Distinction. 

USDA today released the latest report that measures each state's success in reaching children and families eligible for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. While the national SNAP participation rate was 66 percent, Reaching Those in Need: State Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program Participation Rates in 2008, reports state rates varied from an estimated low of 46 percent to a high of 94 percent.

Deputy Secretary Kathleen Merrigan joined U.S. Rep. Steny Hoyer today at George Washington Carver Elementary School in Lexington Park, Md. to highlight the rapid implementation and importance of the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act that reauthorizes USDA's child nutrition programs and is already providing benefits to children across the country.

USDA today announced the nationwide expansion of at-risk afterschool meals to promote improvements in health and nutrition in Child Care settings.

USDA today published a proposed rule to update the nutrition standards for meals served through the school lunch and breakfast programs. The new proposed will raise standards for the first time in 15 years to help improve the health and nutrition of nearly 32 million kids that participate in school meal programs every school day,

The USDA today published a proposed rule to update the nutrition standards for meals served through the National School Lunch and School Breakfast programs as part of the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010.

El Departamento de Agricultura publicó hoy una propuesta de ley para actualizar los estándares nutricionales de los alimentos servidos en el Programa Nacional de Almuerzos Escolares y el Programa de Desayunos Escolares. La propuesta forma parte de la Ley Saludable de Niños Libres de Hambre 2010 o Healthy Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010, la cual fue firmada por el Presidente Obama en Diciembre 12, 2010.