What is the National School Lunch Program?
The National School Lunch Program (NSLP) is the oldest and largest of the child nutrition programs operated by the Food and Consumer Service (FCS) of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Since 1946, the NSLP has made it possible for schools to serve nutritious lunches to students each school day. States receive federal reimbursement and other assistance in establishing, maintaining, and operating the program. Why Serve Lunch at School?Hungry children cannot learn. They are lethargic, irritable and have shorter attention spans. Many students would get no meal, or at best a nutritionally poor one, if they had to bring their own lunches. A good school lunch is not only essential to academic achievement, it is also part of a good education. Nutrition habits and food preferences learned now will be with your students for life. Who Can Participate? Any Public School District, Charter School, Residential Child Care Institution, Tax Exempt Non-Public School may apply to sponsor the NSL Program.
The National School Lunch Program (NSLP) is a federally assisted meal program operating in more than 98,000 public and nonprofit private schools and residential childcare institutions in the United States. Federal assistance allows a reimbursable meal, depending on family income, to be offered at no charge, reduced charge and full paid meal price. The meal pattern for lunch provides one-third of the recommended daily allowance for children. The meal price for reduced price student can be no more that 40 cents. The full paid student and district staff is established yearly by the school system and approved by the local school board. In 2001 over 89,079,859 reimbursable lunches were sold in Alabama.
The National School Lunch Program is a federally funded program that assists schools and other agencies in providing nutritious lunches to children at reasonable prices. In addition to financial assistance, the program provides donated commodity foods to help reduce lunch program costs. The United States Department of Agriculture (Outside Source) is responsible for overseeing the program nationally. In California, the program is administered by the California Department of Education, Nutrition Services Division.
Each school day, the National School Lunch Program (NSLP) serves nutritious meals (breakfast and lunch) to more than 28 million children. This Depression-era program was expanded after World War II in part with national security in mind.Preamable”In the long view, no nation is healthier than its children, or more prosperous than its farmers.” President Harry Truman, on signing the 1946 National School Lunch ActThe European and Early American ExperienceArchival photo of students LOCIn 1790, American born physicist Benjamin Thompson began a combined program of teaching and feeding children in Munich, Germany. By the 1850s, some European countries were experimenting with state-subsidized school lunch programs. At the turn of the century, there were programs in England, France, Germany, Holland, Italy, Norway and Switzerland. In England, the 1905 Education (Provision of Meals) Ac
The National School Lunch Program is a federally assisted meal program operating in more than 97,700 public and non-profit private schools and residential child care institutions. It provides nutritionally balanced, low-cost or free lunches to more than 27 million children each school day. In 1998, Congress expanded the National School Lunch Program to include reimbursement for snacks served to children in afterschool educational and enrichment programs to include children through 18 years of age. The Food and Nutrition Service administers the program at the Federal level. At the State level, the National School Lunch Program is usually administered by State education agencies, which operate the program through agreements with school food authorities.
