The National School Lunch Program (NSLP) is the second largest federally assisted food program in the United States and operates in over 100,000 public and nonprofit schools and residential childcare institutions (USDA, 2014). Schools that participate in the NSLP must serve lunches that meet the nutrition standards defined by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) and are required to serve free or reduced priced lunches to eligible students. In return, participating schools receive cash subsidies and commodities from the USDA for each meal they serve. Over 5 billion lunches were served in 2012 by schools adhering to the NSLP (USDA, 2014). The Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) regulates the NSLP at the federal level and educational …show more content…
The USDA supplies food assistance to one in four Americans annually via food distribution programs, child nutrition programs, a supplemental nutrition assistance program (SNAP), a Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC), a Farmers’ Market Nutrition Program (FMNP), and a Senior Farmers’ Market Nutrition Program (SFMNP) (USDA, 2014). The nutrition assistance programs target food security and diet quality among children and low-income individuals across the United States.
USDA Goals and Performance Measures
In 2010, the FNS developed a strategic plan outlining the department’s goals and objectives, strategies for achieving them, and measures of success for 2010-2015. The FNS developed four strategic goals; Strategic Goal 4 was to “ensure that all of America’s children have access to safe, nutritious and balanced meals.” The USDA developed the following objectives and performance measures to reach this goal:
•Objective 4.1: Increase access to nutritious food
Performance Measure Baseline 2015
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coli O157:H7 illnesses from products regulated by USDA’s Food Safety Inspection Service 562,697 505,024
Average percentage of all establishments with a functional food defense plan 62.0% 90.0%
•Objective 4.4: Protect agricultural health by minimizing major diseases and pests to ensure access to safe, plentiful, and nutritious food
Performance Measure Baseline 2015
In order to maximize our program’s ability to provide nutritious meals and snacks, we participate in the federal school nutrition programs, which includes the National School Lunch and School Breakfast Programs. According to the Department of Agriculture, the National School Lunch Program is a federally assisted meal program for public and nonprofit private schools and residential child care institutions (2015). It provides nutritionally balanced, low-cost or free lunches to children each school day. On the same note, our program participates in School Breakfast Program. The department of Agriculture specifies that this program provides cash assistance to states to operate nonprofit breakfast programs in schools and residential childcare institutions. Both the National School Lunch Program, and the School Breakfast Program, ensures that the children receive the adequate nutrition while the our
Administered by the USDA, the goal of the program is to alleviate hunger and malnutrition for low-income families, adults and seniors. The program is considered one of the largest and most successful solutions in decreasing food insecurity among senior Americans. The USDA pays 100% of all SNAP/Food Stamp benefits to the states that share the administration cost with the federal government. Congress reauthorizes the SNAP program every five years as part of the Farm Bill, the reauthorization determines who is eligible and addresses benefit levels and program accessibility (Fox, Hamilton, & Lin, 2011, p. 30-33). The USDA has implemented a program to create incentive for low-income seniors to purchase more fresh fruits and vegetables using food stamp. The USDA and other state agencies, businesses, nonprofits and the AARP to draw in low-income seniors to eat healthy foods, have supported the program. The program gives increases the number of establishments that accepts food stamp payment by giving dollar for dollar matches for food purchased by eligible seniors. The program labeled as the Seniors Farmers Market Nutrition Program SFMNP also establishes educational programs about good nutrition in area grocery stores and farmer’s markets (USDA, 2015, p.
The Hunger-free kids act is a nutrition program that provides all children with healthy food in school and to low income families. Because of this act schools are playing a larger role in children’s health. Included in this legislation other programs that focus on hunger has come into play such as: Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Woman, Infants and Children (WIC), Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP), Summer Food Service Program, After School Meal Program and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program Education (SNAP-Ed). The programs under the Hunger-free kids act do not have a specific expiration date however,
Our bodies require fuel only obtainable from food, so it's vital to stay pay attention to the political aspects that affect how and where we get our food. It's important to note the youth in America have little say in how or where their school lunches come from and how it affects them. This is a contributing factor in the poor investment the current public school lunch program has become today.
The United States Department of Agriculture over sees The National School Lunch Programs. The Department states that they are not responsible for giving free school lunches to student unless they meet the financial requirements. Ultimately saying the government isn’t necessary required to help our school students more than they have too. The program does give cash reimbursement to the public schools for free and reduced lunches that the school at times gives out, meaning the public schools have to pay out of pocket until the end of the fiscal year, but the program evaluates the public schools to make sure they are making the students that have to pay for certain things pay enough money to the school every year. The year 1966 the government
Is school lunch actually feeding America’s children? (1. Rhetorical Question) Today, many students are reporting that they are unsatisfied with their school’s lunch. Strict guidelines set for America’s schools control what exactly is going through cafeterias in order to maintain healthy and happy students. However, students are disappointed in these guidelines and disagree that they are of any benefit. School lunches still lack nutrition, limit food choices and proportions, and neglect appeal. (2. Parallelism)
The National School Lunch Program is an enormous federal program that has grown to become the second largest U.S. food and nutrition assistance program in both numbers of children served. In 2009, over 31 million children participated in the NSLP each school day at a cost of 9.3 billion to the Federal government. The SBP reached 11 million children at an additional cost of 2.4 billion. The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) administers the program on the federal level and provides oversight of the states agencies that are responsible for the program, in Georgia, the department of education manages the statewide program. Ultimately, the success of the program resides with the local school district or each individual school food authority who implement the program to the students. The laws establishing the National School Lunch Program and School Breakfast Program stated that schools had to run their nutrition programs profit free and set the monetary per meal rates to reimburse the individual school. Rates for school year 2009 were $2.72 for free lunches, $2.32 for reduced cost lunches and $.26 for paid lunches. Today, almost half of all lunches served are provided free to students, with an additional 10 percent provided at reduced prices. Although schools are not required to offer NSLP meals, 94 percent of schools, both public and private, choose to participate in the program. Little
The NSLP is “a federally assisted meal program operating in public and nonprofit private schools and residential child care institutions. It provides nutritionally balanced, low-cost or free lunches to children each school day. The program was established under the National School Lunch Act, signed by President Harry Truman in 1946” (National). It was created after a study was conducted by congress into why so many young men did not meet the requirements of the WWII draft. It was found that there was a connection between physical deficiencies and malnutrition during adolescence. After the study was published, the government took it upon itself to regulate what children ate. Its focus has now been shifted from battling malnutrition to battling childhood obesity, yet there are plenty of statistics that denote childhood obesity is not caused entirely by poor food choices.
The National School Lunch Program (NSLP), originally initiated in 1946 under the name the National School Lunch Act, has served in excess of 224 billion school lunches to children throughout the United States since its inception (National School Lunch Program). The goals of the program include serving a school lunch that meets certain nutritional requirements and is available at low or no cost to eligible students (National School Lunch Program). While the program has undergone many changes over the decades, the core tenants of the program have remained intact. Changes should be made to the way the National School Lunch Program operates to ensure that all students have access to a lunch that is nutritious and affordable for all income levels, while accommodating the palate of each child.
According to the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act, the goal of the National School Lunch Program is “to safeguard the health and well-being of the Nation’s children and to
Improving child nutrition is everyone responsibility including our late president, Obama. President Obama signed Healthy Hungry-Free Kids Act in 2010. This Act along with U.S. Agriculture Department (USDA) acted to implement new nutritional standards in the United States
Based on what I read in this chapter, it is clear that all change is inevitable and cyclical because new challenges are constantly arising in foodservice. The text mentions that losing employees due to wage competition, competition for the local supermarkets, or due to unsatisfied clientele. In addition to these challenges, technology evolves everyday, which means foodservice operation must keep up with the change. Another inevitable change is the possibility of having a war, which would cause economic conditions to be changed. All of these examples are changes that must be fixed in order to ensure success of the company.
Collectively these programs are considered to be the blueprint for the current Healthy, Hunger Free Kids Act enacted in 2010. This policy is an all-inclusive policy that encompasses programs such as: “National School Lunch Program, the School Breakfast Program, the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for
In 2010, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), which works with Food & Nutrition Services to develop guidelines for the NSLP, proposed new regulations for school lunches in the Healthy Hunger-Free Kids Act (HHFKA). The rules included calorie guidelines according to age group and also outlined requirements for vegetable, fruit, protein, and starch components of the meals. While the USDA guidelines for meals were
In this article entitled, “No Lunch left Behind,” Alice Waters and Katrina Heronfeb state “The National School Lunch Program should be revised.” According to the authors, the United States Department of Agriculture spends $2.57 for a free lunch, $2.17 for a reduce- price lunch and 24 cents for a paid lunch. Even though in 2007 the program cost about $9 billion, the very little of this amount went toward food. The most of the money was spent for custodial services or cafeteria’s maintenance. As a result, schools received reimbursable meals which are valued about twenty cents per meal. The food distributed by the National School Lunch Program contains some of the ingredients found in fast food, and as a result that food did not meet nutritional standards.