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…

From 2009 to 2010, the Community Food Security Coalition advocated for more federal support and funding for farm-to-school programs as Congress considered reauthorizing the Child Nutrition Act. Farm-to-school initiatives aim to improve the quality and healthfulness of student meals through the inclusion of more fresh fruits and vegetables provided…

The National School Lunch Program (NSLP) is the second largest federally subsidized food assistance program, serving approximately 31 million lunches each day. Nearly all public and private schools offer the federally reimbursed school meals program, which cost the federal government $9.3 billion to operate in 2008. This Issue Brief highlights the…

A revolutionary, fast-food school lunch program has raised participation by 202 percent, created a half-million dollar surplus in the school food service account, and meets the federal school lunch program requirement. (Author/MLF)

These hearings before the Senate Select Committee on Nutrition and Human Needs are organized in four parts, the contents of which are as follows. The first part concerns "Unused food assistance funds and food stamps," with opening statements by Senators Percy and McGovern, followed by the presentations of other witnesses. The focus of…

The application of operations research techniques to a public school system's lunch program suggests a possible solution to the problem of rapidly increasing program costs. A computer-assisted menu planner was developed which generated a monthly set of menus satisfying nutritional and Federal standards, and food demand cycles. When compared to the…

The two basic family feeding programs are food stamps and commodity distribution. The current food stamp program provides the poor with spending power enough to purchase at the level of the Department of Agriculture's Economy Food Plan. The dollar equivalent of this plan is 112 dollars a month for a family of four. This amounts to an average per…

The National School Lunch Program is designed to safeguard schoolchild health by improving and/or maintaining levels of nutrition, and strengthen the agricultural economy by stimulating food demand. The General Accounting Office (GAO) examined whether the program is meeting its legislative objectives and analyzed available information on what is…

This document identifies the federal nutrition standards required in order to claim cash reimbursement and donated United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) commodities for meals served through school lunch or school breakfast programs. Minimum serving requirements for school lunch and school breakfast patterns are detailed by age/grade…

In this document, the author traces the history of, explains the revisions to, and points up the political issues involved in the National School Lunch Act of 1964 and the Child Nutrition Act of 1966. The author cites research that establishes the adverse effect of malnutrition on the learning process, outlines basic concepts for nutrition…

Contents of these hearings include the statement and testimony of the following witnesses: (1) Alan Young, Research Administrator, Research and Development Division, A. H. Robins Co.; Chairman, Board of Directors, Vitamin Information Bureau; (2) Dr. Joseph M. White, Nutritional and Medical Consultant, Miles Laboratories; (3) Dr. George Briggs,…

This publication reports the considerations of a subcommittee to which was referred H.R. Bill 1139 to amend the National School Lunch Act and the Child Nutrition Act of 1966 in order to extend and revise the food service program. The bill would extend through 1982 three child nutrition programs whose authorizations are expiring at the end of…

Reviews United States Department of Agriculture's school lunch subsidy program, including such problems as delivery of large quantities of certain food types rejected by school children and the expense and inconvenience of subsidy food distribution. Proposes cash equivalency or commodity letters of credit as alternatives to the existing delivery…