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…

Purpose/Objectives: The goal of this study was to explore unique issues that rural school nutrition professionals face in operating successful school meal programs, and their strategies for overcoming those barriers. Methods: This study was conducted through 10 key informant interviews and three focus groups with rural school nutrition…

The FNS Research Corner provides a continuing series to summarize recently completed and current research conducted by the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) in the area of child nutrition. Summaries of recently completed research projects and in-progress research are provided in this article.

Section 104(a) of the Healthy, Hunger Free Kids Act (HHFKA) of 2010 made the Community Eligibility Provision (CEP) available to Local Educational Agencies (LEAs) and schools in high poverty areas. Under the CEP, families are not required to submit applications for free or reduced-price meals, and schools must provide free lunch and breakfast to…

This report is the forth in the series of evaluations of the National School Lunch Program. The findings presented here are the result of an analysis of pilot project operations and costs for two alternatives to the current application-based certification process--Up-Front Documentation and Graduated Verification--that were tested in 12 public…

This report, the fifth in a serious of reports about the evaluation of the National School Lunch Program focuses on issues relating to applications for free or reduced-price meals. In particular, it presents (1) an impact analysis of the effects of the pilot policies on the number of applications submitted, and (2) a descriptive analysis of the…

This is a compilation of the Food Stamp Act of 1977 and other selected Federal nutrition statutes, including those relating to the Act and major authorities for domestic commodity distribution. The section on the Act itself covers policy, definitions, establishment, eligibility, issuance and use of coupons, value of allotment, approval of food…

Recognizing the importance of efficient and effective program administration for the success of Utah's Child Nutrition Programs, the State Office of Education developed a manual to assist local program administrators in using the U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA's) programs. This document contains Part 1 of the manual's four interrelated…

The stenographic record of testimony by five students, one mother, and one former teacher before the House Committee on Education and Labor hearings on amendments to the National School Lunch Act. (JM)

This handbook describes the duties of the supervisor of a food service site in the Summer Food Service Program for Children. The responsibilities of the program sponsor are listed. These include handling bills and paperwork, training supervisors, and providing recordkeeping forms to the site supervisor. The responsibilities of the site supervisor…

This handbook describes the duties of the supervisor of a food service site in the Summer Food Program for Children. The responsibilities of the program sponsor are listed first; these include handling bills and paperwork, training supervisors, advising about meal types and what to do with leftovers, providing record-keeping forms and…

At the request of the U.S. Secretary of Agriculture, this investigation identified state and local school food authorities' (SFA) management and operating practices recognized as best practice by the United State Department of Agriculture (USDA) or other officials. In addition, the study determined whether some of these practices could be…

This publication is designed to aid school food service personnel in implementing effective food purchasing practices and obtaining optimum food quality. Part 1 outlines procedures for sound purchasing practices and presents suggested forms for use in implementing these procedures. Information is also provided on inventory systems and stock…

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 Healthy Meals for Healthy American Act of 1994 requires that a variety of meal-planning approaches be available for schools to plan menus. The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) regulation "School Meals Initiative for Healthy Children," published in 1995, implements the provisions of the 1994 legislation and incorporates…