According to the School Nutrition Association, almost 100,000 schools or institutions serve school lunches to 29.8 million students each day. Federal child nutrition programs, operated by the United States Department of Agriculture, include the School Breakfast Program, the National School Lunch Program, the Child and Adult Care Food Program, and the Summer Food Service Program. These programs provide nutritious meals to students throughout the year. School breakfast and lunch provides 50% of students daily nutrient needs. Yet many students still are not taking advantage of these meals or participating in these programs.
PTAs can be involved in supporting healthy school meals, such as hosting a Family Tasting Night. PTAs should also know about regulations that impact things like school stores or fundraisers which may be hosted by PTAs. See below for related information and resources covering important healthy school meal topics.
Please note: If there is information or resources missing from this page that you would find helpful, please let us know by emailing firstname.lastname@example.org.