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MyPlate, MyWins: Find Your Real Solutions for a Healthy New Year

December 28, 2016 Kevin Concannon, USDA Under Secretary for Food, Nutrition and Consumer Services

Every January, Americans are bombarded with information about New Year’s resolutions. While many of us set our hopes high on January 1 st, our commitment to our lofty resolutions tends to dwindle over time. In fact, by June, less than half of us are still committed to accomplishing our New Year’s...

Food and Nutrition

Getting a School Garden Blooming

December 28, 2016 LaShonda Walker, Public Affairs Specialist, Food and Nutrition Service Southwest Region

School gardens are gaining popularity across the country. In Texas, nearly 3,000 schools participate in farm to school activities. Some of these schools work with Texas A&M AgriLife Extension’s Learn, Grow, Eat, and Go program. Jeff Raska, a school garden specialist with the AgriLife Extension...

Food and Nutrition

An Insider's Journey to Improving Food Security and Literacy in Tanzania

December 21, 2016 Krissy Young, Foreign Agricultural Service Public Affairs

USDA’s McGovern–Dole International Food for Education and Child Nutrition Program helps reduce hunger and improve literacy and primary education in low-income, food-deficit countries around the world. Today, USDA’s Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS) works hand-in-hand with non-profit charitable...

Initiatives Food and Nutrition Trade

Minneapolis School Embraces Family-Style Dining

December 20, 2016 Dr. Katie Wilson, USDA Deputy Under Secretary for Food, Nutrition and Consumer Services

How do you create a better lunch experience for students? It all started with a conversation between Ginger Davis Kranz, Principal of Webster Elementary School, and the Minneapolis Public Schools’ Director of Food Service, Bertrand Weber. In September 2016, I was fortunate enough to visit Webster...

Food and Nutrition

Fighting Hunger: Closing the Summer Feeding Gap

December 16, 2016 Kalena Thomhave, Program Analyst, Community Meals Branch, Child Nutrition Programs, Food and Nutrition Service

Summer is tough to enjoy when you’re hungry. It’s a hard reality that many kids from low-income households face when school is out and the weather turns sunny. To help close the summer feeding gap, the Summer Electronic Benefit Transfer demonstration offers a new model to do just that. Without the...

Food and Nutrition

It's Almost Time to Think about New Year's Resolutions...Almost!

December 15, 2016 Brooke Hardison, Director of Nutrition Marketing and Communications, Center for Nutrition Policy and Promotion

The holiday season is a wonderful, exciting, and incredibly busy time. Between the celebrations, family gatherings, and the food ( so much food!), healthy eating isn’t likely the first thing on your mind. And that’s OK. In a few short weeks, many of us will be turning our attention to the new year...

Food and Nutrition

SNAP E&T Boosts Job Skills, Transforms Lives

December 15, 2016 Audrey Rowe, Administrator, USDA Food and Nutrition Service

On a recent trip to California, I took part in a wonderful event in San Francisco’s Mission District - also known as “The Mission” - one of the most racially and economically diverse areas in the nation. After parking the car, Jesus Mendoza Jr., Regional Administrator of the Food and Nutrition...

Food and Nutrition

Taking Action for School Nutrition Success

December 13, 2016 Jennifer Carlson, Amy Mazerall and Mydina Thabet, Child Nutrition Programs, Food and Nutrition Service

Developing a school menu of healthy, student-approved meals is challenging, make no mistake about it. But it is achievable with the right support and resources. That’s why the USDA Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) and the Institute of Child Nutrition (ICN) have partnered to create the Team Up for...

Food and Nutrition

New Tools Leading to Local Coexistence

December 08, 2016 Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack

American agriculture today is a complex web of producers, processors, and marketers all working to produce a safe and nutritious food supply and serve the needs and wants of consumers here in the U.S. and all across the world. As people have become more interested in what they eat and where their...

Food and Nutrition

USDA Child Nutrition Program to Dietetics Interns: We Need to Talk!

December 08, 2016 Melissa Daigle Katz, MPH, Child Nutrition Programs, Food and Nutrition Service

The USDA and the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics (Academy) are excited to announce a brand new effort to bring dietetic interns to child nutrition! Dietetics students, you know who you are! You’re studying hard to become a Registered Dietitian Nutritionist so you can help Americans live healthier...

Food and Nutrition