National school lunch program food guidelines

The legislation also authorized an additional 6-cent payment per meal to schools when they demonstrated that they were serving meals that met the updated standards and established new regulations for meal prices charged to students not certified for free or reduced-price meals. To learn more about the new standards and how schools strive to provide healthy and appealing meals that encourage student participation, please see:.

In response to concerns about the role of the school meal environment in children's diets and other issues, the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of also established updated nutrition standards for non-USDA foods sold in schools often called "competitive foods" participating in USDA's school meal programs.

The Act also created the Community Eligibility Provision CEP , an option that allows high-poverty schools to offer free meals to all students. To learn more about CEP, please see:.

USDA also encourages school districts to use locally-produced foods in school meals and to use "farm-to-school" activities to spark students' interest in trying new foods. More than 4 in 10 U. S school districts reported participating in farm-to-school activities, which includes serving local foods, in the or school years. The links that are shown are not an exclusive listing of organizations available within the state.

Skip to Main Content. Close alert. Set your location: Set Cancel. My Location: Loading Font Size:. By Topic. Laws and Regulations Florida Statutes Section: The U. Department of Agriculture has extended flexibilities external icon to allow free meals to be available to all children, regardless of household income, through June 30, Research shows that students who participate in the school meal programs consume more whole grains, milk, fruits, and vegetables during meal times and have better overall diet quality, than nonparticipants.

These requirements were revised in to include more fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and decrease the amount of sodium and trans fat. Research shows that these changes have helped make school meals more nutritious. Skip directly to site content Skip directly to page options Skip directly to A-Z link. CDC Healthy Schools. Section Navigation. Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Syndicate. School Meals.