The United States Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Food and Nutrition Service administers the National School Lunch Programme (NSLP) and the School Breakfast Programme (SBP), which are federal programmes that operate in partnership with states and with schools at the local level.  Any public or nonprofit private school, including primary/elementary, middle/intermediate, and secondary level school, is eligible to participate. While participation is voluntary, most schools in the country participate, including virtually all public schools, 97,000 in all, with a total enrollment of over 50 million children. About 60% of all students in the United States participate in the school meal programme (lunch and/or breakfast) and about 74% of those are low-income children. Other child nutrition programmes that provide food in schools include the At-Risk Afterschool Meals component of the Child and Adult Care Food Programme, the Seamless Summer Option of the NSLP, the Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Programme (in low-income elementary schools), and the Special Milk Programme.

The governing laws for Child Nutrition Programmes are the Richard B Russell National School Lunch Act (1946) as amended, and the Child Nutrition Act (1966) as amended. Every five years, Congress has an opportunity to review and amend these programmes through Child Nutrition Reauthorization. Nutrition standards for school meals were significantly updated as part of the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010 (HHFKA, the most recent reauthorization law), with a focus on improving access to nutritious meals and reducing childhood obesity. Changes included establishing calorie ranges for school meals; emphasizing fruits, vegetables, whole grains and low-fat and fat-free dairy products; and lowering sodium and saturated fat levels. Local schools have flexibility to plan menus that meet these nutrition requirements and encourage children to eat healthily. In 2012, USDA issued a final rule updating nutrition standards in the NSLP and SBP to reflect the most recent Dietary Guidelines for Americans at that time. HHFKA also required USDA to establish nutrition standards for all foods sold in schools beyond the federally-supported meals programmes, known as the Smart Snacks in School.

In February 2022, USDA issued transitional standards for milk, whole grains and sodium final rule for school year 2022/23 and school year 2023/24 to ease requirements due to COVID-19 pandemic challenges.

The main characteristics of the current 2012 standards for school meals are summarized below:

Development process

The school meal standards are based on the goals of the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, as required by law. In 2007, the Institute of Medicine (IOM, now known as the National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine), published a report, commissioned by USDA, titled School Meals: Building Blocks for Healthy Children. The IOM reviewed and assessed the food and nutritional needs of school-aged children in the United States using the 2005 Dietary Guidelines for Americans and the IOM’s Dietary Reference Intakes. The committee’s review formed the basis for the recommended revisions to the nutrition standards and meal requirements and was incorporated into the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010, followed by the school meals nutrition standards rule (regulation) published in 2012. The goal of this work was the development of practical, economic recommendations for standards that increase the availability of key food groups as appropriate and allow school meal programmes to better meet the nutritional needs of children.

The updated school meal pattern requirements and nutrition standards have been implemented successfully by many schools (School Nutrition and Meal Cost Study: Summary of Findings), with an increase in kids’ healthy eating index scores (a measure of how closely diets reflect the Dietary Guidelines for Americans). This rule requires participating schools to:

• increase the availability of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and fat-free and low-fat fluid milk in school meals; 
• reduce sodium and saturated fat and zero trans-fat in meals; and 
• meet the nutrition needs of school children within appropriate calorie requirements. 

However, legislative and administrative actions have delayed full implementation of the requirements for whole grains and sodium, further compounded by the COVID-19 pandemic which caused major disruptions to the school meal programme. To support the provision of nutritious school meals as schools respond to and recover from the pandemic, USDA issued transitional standards for milk, whole grains and sodium (from 1 July, 2022), which will remain in effect for two school years (SY22-23, and SY 23-24). Meanwhile, USDA is working to develop long-term nutrition standards based on recommendations from the latest Dietary Guidelines for Americans (2020-2025) and input from a wide range of partners, including schools and industry. USDA plans to publish a proposed rule on the updated standards in the near future, for implementation in the school year 2024-2025.

Implementation

The role and responsibilities of federal, state and local authorities in implementation and monitoring include: 

• The federal government provides funds and donated foods based on the number of meals served and sets national standards for nutritional content of meals and other programme requirements. The federal government also provides guidance, training and technical assistance to support implementation of school meals standards, nutrition education and food safety, as well as guidance to state administering agencies for administrative reviews. 
• State administering agencies provide technical assistance to school food authorities to help them with ongoing operations and implementation of programme requirements, including meals that meet the nutrition standards. State agencies also monitor schools to ensure programme regulations and meals standards are met; and they distribute federal reimbursements to school food authorities as appropriate.  
• Individual schools have the flexibility to plan menus that meet the nutrition standards and are acceptable to children. They are also responsible for documenting menus and production records; determining student eligibility for free and reduced-price meals; and processing counting and claiming records (for number of meals served). 

In 1995, USDA established the Team Nutrition initiative to support the Child Nutrition Programmes by providing training for food service, nutrition education for children and their caregivers, and by providing resources to help build healthy school and childcare environments.

Monitoring and Evaluation

USDA sets the nutrition standards and provides cash subsidies for each reimbursable meal served. However, it is the responsibility of an administering agency within each state (often the state department of education) to implement the programme to schools within their state. 

The Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010 requires a unified accountability system to ensure that participating school food authorities comply with the National School Lunch and Breakfast Programme, and conduct administrative reviews by state agencies to evaluate programme requirements for both programmes during a three-year cycle. As part of the review, the state agency will conduct menu reviews, which may include performing a weighted nutrient analysis of the lunch and breakfast menus offered for each age/grade group during the review period to determine compliance with the dietary specifications for calories, saturated fat and sodium.

Go to the summary of the standards

Development

• Integrating Nutrition Education into the School Curriculum (Office of the State Superintendent of Education, DC) 

Implementation

Monitoring and Evaluation

There is currently no national monitoring and evaluation framework in place for nutrition education in the US, although it may be carried out locally. Most school-based nutrition education evaluation is conducted by universities with nutrition research and extension activities. 

• CDC’s Evaluation Tools (https://www.cdc.gov/nutrition/food-service-guidelines/monitor-and-evaluate/index.html)   
• USAID https://pdf.usaid.gov/pdf_docs/PA00TDB5.pdf  
• FRESH Monitoring and Evaluation Guidance is widely used by nutrition education researchers across the U.S.