The federal government has prescribed nutritional requirements for school meals since the authorization of the National School Lunch Program (NSLP) in 1946. Such requirements have changed throughout the course of history. Current law requires the Secretary of Agriculture to prescribe "minimum nutritional requirements" based on…

This report starts with an overview of child nutrition programs' funding structure and then provides detail on each program, including a discussion of how they are administered, eligibility rules for institutions and participants, nutritional and other program requirements, and recent policy changes. Changes to child nutrition programs that have…

The federal government has a long history of investing in programs for feeding children, starting with federal aid for school lunch programs in the 1930s. Today, federal child nutrition programs support food served to children in schools and a variety of other institutional settings. The child nutrition programs support meals and snacks served to…

In the early 21st century, food security has become an urgent public concern, arguably more entangled with social, political and environmental problems at multiple scales now than in the past. This paper examines approaches to food system change emphasizing regionalization, rather than either localization or globalization, to consider framings of…

This paper provides an update on all the new products and projects that U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) has been working on, in its effort to help schools meet the nutritional needs of the students and to help in the President's challenge to End Childhood Hunger by 2015. This issue includes: (1) Back to…

The weak economy is challenging the child care program budget. Fluctuations in enrollment come up against rising costs making every penny count. So for many reasons a federal program that helps defray the costs of snacks and meals in child care programs is particularly important and timely. In this article, the author pushes for the…

Through its commodity program, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) provides commodity foods at no cost to schools taking part in the national school meals programs. Commodities include raw ground beef, cheese, poultry, and fresh produce. Like federal food safety agencies, the commodity program has taken steps designed to reduce microbial…

Over the past few years, several food recalls, such as for beef and peanut products, have affected schools. It is especially important that recalls affecting schools be carried out efficiently and effectively because young children have a higher risk of complications from food-borne illnesses. GAO was asked to determine how federal agencies (1)…

The School Breakfast Program is a federally assisted meal program operating in public and nonprofit private schools and residential child care institutions. It began as a pilot project in 1966, and was made permanent in 1975. The School Breakfast Program is administered at the Federal level by the Food and Nutrition Service. At the State level,…

The National School Lunch Program is a federally assisted meal program operating in over 101,000 public and non-profit private schools and residential child care institutions. It provides nutritionally balanced, low-cost or free lunches to more than 30.5 million children each school day in 2008. In 1998, Congress expanded the National School Lunch…

The number of overweight and obese children and adolescents has reached epidemic proportions, and recent federal surveys show that most school meals do not meet federal nutrition guidelines. Accordingly, there is growing interest in the nutritional quality of foods available in U.S. schools--and in the role of the government in helping to make…

Today the National School Lunch Program is serving nutritious meals to nearly 24 million children in about 90,000 schools. Among the measures taken to improve the program are food procurement workshops, recipe card testing, and improvement in commodity purchase selections for schools. (MLF)

An update on the National School Lunch Program includes a list of some of the changes and innovations in types, quality, and packaging of commodity products provided to schools. (MLF)

These hearings before the Senate Select Committee on Nutrition and Human Needs are organized in three parts: Part I: "Overview--Consultants' Recommendations," with opening statements by Senators Schweiker and McGovern, followed by the presentations of other witnesses. This section focuses on important nutrition education issues that the committee…

This manual provides information on creditable and noncreditable foods in child care centers, before-and-after-school centers, family day care homes, and adult day care centers. Creditable foods are foods that may be counted toward meeting the requirements for a reimbursable meal. Foods are determined to be creditable according to guidelines…