NEW! Child Nutrition Program Integrity Final Rule

Published: 1 years 100 days ago
" USDA’s Food and Nutrition Service published a final rule on program integrity to ensure that child nutrition programs are properly operated and managed to protect federal funds and taxpayer dollars. The final rule impacts regulations for the National School Lunch Program, School Breakfast Program, Special Milk Program, Summer Food Service Program, and Child and Adult Care Food Program.
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USDA’s Food and Nutrition Service published a final rule on program integrity to ensure that child nutrition programs are properly operated and managed to protect federal funds and taxpayer dollars. The final rule impacts the National School Lunch Program, School Breakfast Program, Special Milk Program, Summer Food Service Program, and Child and Adult Care Food Program.

The final rule strengthens program integrity by modernizing how state agencies oversee child nutrition programs, including the following:
1. Introducing targeted flexibilities in the National School Lunch and School Breakfast Programs that streamline monitoring requirements and lower administrative burden for states.
2. Finalizing provisions in the Child and Adult Care Food Program, also known as CACFP, that have already been in place. These provisions streamline processes, provide additional resources, and increase accountability.
3. Allowing more efficient use of state agency resources by ensuring that organizations at risk of serious management issues in CACFP receive more frequent oversight, and that financial transactions are appropriately reviewed.
4. Improving the ability of FNS and state agencies to address the rare instances of severe or repeated violations of program requirements in the child nutrition programs.

This rule is one of many steps that USDA is taking to ensure that federal child nutrition programs can serve the millions of children who depend on them to reach their full potential.

The complete final rule is available on the Federal Register: https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2023/08/23/2023-17992/child-nutrition-program-integrity. For a summary of the changes, USDA has provided Policy Memo SP 21-2023, CACFP 10-2023, SFSP 12-2023, Initial Implementation Memorandum: Child Nutrition Program Integrity Final Rule, located at: https://www.fns.usda.gov/cn/initial-implementation-integrity-rule TDA will be providing updated guidance on upcoming webinars along with updates to various handbooks and FAQs closer to implementation dates.

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1. Mail:
U.S. Department of Agriculture
Office of the Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights
1400 Independence Avenue, SW
Washington, D.C. 20250-9410; or
2. Fax: (833) 256-1665 or (202) 690-7442; or
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