Food And Nutrition

Harvesting collard greens and making whole wheat crackers from scratch is not a typical day on the job for me as the Deputy Under Secretary of USDA’s Food, Nutrition, and Consumer Services. But I can assure you it is the perfect recipe for a great day at work! Earlier this month, I had the chance to spend the morning at Watkins Elementary School in Washington, D.C. with Admiral Rachel Levine, Assistant Secretary for Health of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. There, we joined some incredible 5^th grade students during their FoodPrints class and witnessed first-hand the transformational power of nutrition education. And best of all—it was delicious!

On January 15-16, 2023, I attended the School Nutrition Industry Conference in San Diego. There, I met with many of our food industry partners that deliver food to school districts across the country. Food industry partners play a crucial role in producing, procuring and delivering food for our school meal programs. Despite the challenges that industry and school food service operators have encountered over the past few years, we are grateful for everything they do to deliver food and serve nutritious meals to tens of millions of children every day.

USDA’s Food and Nutrition Service supports indigenous health and tribal sovereignty through Food Distribution Program on Indian Reservations Self-Determination Demonstration Projects.

I recently had the opportunity to join my daughter for breakfast at her school. Every morning, she asks me what’s on the menu for her school’s breakfast. And that morning was no different. The moment I told her, they were serving mini pancakes – her favorite – with craisins and applesauce, she couldn’t wait to get to school.

This past February, I attended the Urban School Food Alliance winter meeting in Los Angeles, California, which included Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) sessions focused on child nutrition programs. Participants, which included food service directors from around the country, had the opportunity to ask questions about the child nutrition programs they administer, including the recent updates. Engaging with program leaders and seeing what child nutrition programs look like ‘on the ground’ is important to us. In addition to learning from the group, the meeting was a reminder of the many partners we have that share a common goal of continuing to elevate the role that healthy meals play in schools and for our children’s future.

Several studies consistently link poor access to food to poor health outcomes, including heart disease, stroke, and type 2 diabetes. Project Bread, a Massachusetts’ nonprofit focused on permanently solving food insecurity, teamed up with MassHealth to pilot the Flexible Services Program, or FSP, to bolster food security and meet nutritional needs from birth throughout childhood and beyond, improving health outcomes at every stage of life. Since April 2020, over 7,000 MassHealth members (ranging in age from 0 months to 64 years) with complex health issues were given an array of food resources, including gift cards for groceries, cooking supplies, refrigerators, cooking classes, transportation assistance, and nutrition education.

Millions of children face a risk of hunger during the summer months when they no longer have access to school meals. USDA’s summer meal programs – the Summer Food Service Program and Seamless Summer Option – reduce food and nutrition insecurity and help ensure kids are healthy and ready to learn when they return to school in the fall. Nationwide, thousands of dedicated organizations sponsor summer meal programs and work tirelessly to offer high quality meals that are appealing and nutritious.

Nothing says Valentine’s Day in the United States like chocolate. According to the National Confectioners Association, 92% of Americans plan to celebrate Valentine’s Day with chocolate and candy. Making all that chocolate takes a lot of cocoa.

On Jan. 19, 2023, USDA participated in the first of seven regional summits focused on strengthening the intersections between healthcare and nutrition security hosted by ProMedica and The Root Cause Coalition at The Carter Center in Atlanta, Georgia.

Soon, many SNAP households will experience a change to their benefit amounts. That’s because the temporary pandemic-related boost to SNAP benefits, known as emergency allotments (EA), is coming to an end.