Food and Nutrition Service
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| Agency overview | |
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| Parent agency | United States Department of Agriculture |
| Child agency |
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| Website | http://www.fns.usda.gov/ |
The Food and Nutrition Service (FNS), an agency of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), was established on August 8, 1969. The FNS is the federal agency responsible for administering the nation’s domestic nutrition assistance programs. The service helps to address the issue of hunger in the United States. It administers the programs through its headquarters (HQ) in Alexandria, VA; regional offices (ROs) in San Francisco, Denver, Dallas, Chicago, Atlanta, Boston, and Robbinsville (NJ); and field offices throughout the US. While its staff number among the USDA's fewest, its budget is by far the largest.
Services
FNS products and services enhance the lives of one in five Americans; its main products and services include:
- commodities supplied as: prepared meals that are served at congregate feeding sites; food packages that may be used for home consumption; and disaster relief assistance
- food assistance through electronic benefit transfer (EBT) cards; nutritionally balanced, low-cost or free meals and snacks; vouchers; and, fresh, locally grown produce
- nutrition education and promotion materials and presentations delivered by expert staff and senior managers; and
- food safety and security efforts, technical assistance and informational materials
Nutrition assistance programs
These products and services are provided through fifteen domestic nutrition assistance programs:
- Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP)
- National School Lunch Program (NSLP)
- School Breakfast Program (SBP)
- Special Milk Program (SMP)
- Summer Food Service Program (SFSP)
- Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC)
- Farmers' Market Nutrition Program / Senior Farmers' Market Nutrition Program (FMNP)/(SFMNP)
- Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP)
- Commodity Supplemental Food Program (CSFP)
- Temporary Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP)
- Food Distribution Program on Indian Reservations (FDPIR)
- Food Assistance for Disaster Relief (FADR)
- Nutrition Assistance Block Grants, including Nutrition Assistance for Puerto Rico
- Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Program (FFVP)
In the United States, the lunches that are subsidized by the NSLP are nearly ubiquitous in public schools. The program has operated since 1946.
The FNS is in charge of the national "Eat Smart. Play Hard." campaign, which encourages Americans (more specifically, children and teens) to follow the healthy eating guidelines set by MyPyramid. The spokescharacter of the "Eat Smart. Play Hard." campaign is Power Panther.
See also
References
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