Food News

One important goal of the U.S. Department of Agriculture and Nutrition Service is to provide Americans access to nutrition. Under the Child and adult care food program (CACFP), eligible children and adults can get reimbursements for healthy meals and snacks. Only those children and adults are eligible for this who are participants in the child care center, day care home, or adult day care. Besides this, the program also provides nutrition services to children residing in emergency shelters, and adults who are above the age of 60 or are disabled.

The participating centers and daycare homes not only offer meals through the CACFP program but also support health, wellness, children’s development, and individuals with disabilities by providing nutritious meals. By doing so, the participating childcare providers also encourage healthy habits that form the basis of their healthy life.

The individuals cannot apply directly for the child adult food care program as this program is meant specifically for the centers. The participating centers automatically tend to offer services to certain groups. Several other groups tend to benefit automatically such as foster children and children experiencing homelessness.

The institutions participating in CACFP are monitored by state agencies to ensure compliance with meal patterns and other requirements of the program. You can learn about the participating institutions by contacting your state’s Department of Education. Depending on the kind of program the center runs, the program reimburses care centers for many different meals. Some of the meals reimbursed by CACFP include:

• Breakfast
• Morning snack
• Lunch
• Afternoon snack
• Supper

The meals served by these programs are required to meet the nutritional requirements set by FNS CACFP. The meals and snacks served at these centers should include a variety of vegetables, fruits, whole grains, and less sugar, and saturated fat. Besides this, the meal patterns also encourage breastfeeding and align with other programs as well.