School Meals and Other Child Nutrition Programs: Background and Funding. CRS Report R46234, Version 10. Updated

The child nutrition programs support meals and snacks served to children in schools, child care, summer programs, and other institutional settings in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and the U.S. territories. This report starts with an overview of child nutrition programs' funding structure and then provides detail on each program, including a discussion of how they are administered, eligibility rules for institutions and participants, nutritional and other program requirements, and recent policy changes. Changes to child nutrition programs that have applied during the COVID-19 pandemic are briefly discussed in the "Child Nutrition Program Operations During the COVID19 Pandemic" text box below. The Pandemic Electronic Benefit Transfer (P-EBT) program--not considered a child nutrition program--is not discussed in this report.