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.

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…

Background: The Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010 (HHFKA) directed the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) to revise school meal standards to increase healthy food offerings. A critical stakeholder in the implementation of standards is Food Service Directors (FSDs). We sought to examine FSDs' perspectives on revised school meal standards 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…

In 2012, nearly 16 million U.S. children, or over one in five, lived in households that were food-insecure, which the U.S. Department of Agriculture defines as "a household-level economic and social condition of limited access to food." Even when we control for the effects of other factors correlated with poverty, these children are more…

A 1983 federal appeals court decision says the Secretary of Agriculture cannot establish time and place restrictions on the sale of snack items in schools. If snack items are to be banned from schools, the School Lunch Act must be reworded. (MD)

This report discusses amendments offered by the Committee on Agriculture to H.R. 8, the Healthy Meals for Healthy Americans Act, which reauthorizes and improves the nutrition programs under the National School Lunch (NSL) Act and the Child Nutrition Act of 1966. The amendments deal with: (1) the amount of commodities provided to schools under the…

ED"Facts" is an initiative of the U. S. Department of Education to base education policy on reliable performance data provided by state education agencies. Among its many data items, ED"Facts" houses school-level counts of students disaggregated by state-defined student economic status, typically free and reduced-price lunch…

The transcript of a congressional hearing on a proposed bill to extend and amend the National School Lunch Act and the Child Nutrition Act of 1966 is provided in this document. Representatives of the Food and Nutrition Service and the U.S. Department of Agriculture, testified that the proposed bill runs counter to the policies of the Reagan…

This General Accounting Office (GAO) report examines the problems encountered by school food service programs in their efforts to meet the Department of Agriculture's nutrient requirements for school lunches while increasing student participation and reducing food waste and program costs. The report is based on an evaluation of two senior high…

This report examines the background, purpose, cost, and regulatory impact of Senate Bill 1614, the proposed Better Nutrition and Health for Children Act of 1994. The purpose of the act is to reauthorize and make improvements in various federal nutrition programs, such as the National School Lunch Act and the Child Nutrition Act. The report…

In 1972 the School Breakfast Program was revised and made available to all schools in the country. The program also provides meal subsidies, surplus commodities, and equipment money. This guide is designed to help community members become aware of the programs and their benefits and to organize local school lunch and breakfast campaigns. The guide…

These hearings transcripts present discussions on amendments offered by the Committee on Education and Labor to H.R. 8, the Healthy Meals for Healthy Americans Act of 1994, which will reauthorize and improve the national school lunch program and the child nutrition programs under the National School Lunch (NSL) Act and the Child Nutrition Act of…

This publication is a comprehensive record of testimony and exhibits presented to a subcommittee of the Committee on Agriculture and Forestry of the U.S. Senate during hearings on five proposed bills that would have extended and/or revised the various child nutrition programs financed by the federal government. The hearings were conducted on April…

The Declaration of Purpose of this Act states that in recognition of the demonstrated relationship between food and good nutrition and the capacity of children to develop and learn, based on the years of cumulative successful experience under the national school lunch program with its significant contributions in the field of applied nutrition…