Join the Food Program

If you operate a child care center, family child care home or adult day care center, you may claim up to 2 meals and 1 snack OR 2 snacks and 1 meal per participant, per day.

At-risk afterschool centers may claim up to 1 meal and 1 snack per child, per day.

Emergency shelters may claim up to 3 meals OR 2 meals and 1 snack per child, per day.

The USDA Food and Nutrition Service updates the reimbursement rates every year. They are valid from July 1 to June 30 of the following year.

There are many great resources for you to determine if your meals and snacks are #CACFPCreditable!

The Food Buying Guide for Child Nutrition Programs (FBG) is the principal tool that is used to determine the contribution that foods make towards meal requirements, regarless of if foods are produced onsite or purchased commercially. In addition to using search tools to find creditable foods, you can also use the Recipe Analysis Workbook (RAW) to determine the crediting for your own recipes.

Additionally, you can use the Crediting Handbook as a supplement to the Food Buying Guide, as it contains additional information on creditable foods in child and adult care centers, outside-school-hours care centers, and family day care homes.

Finally, to navigate the finer details of crediting foods, be sure to check out our Meal Patterns page for USDA and NCA resources.

All five components (grains, vegetable, fruit, meat/meat alternate and fluid milk) must be served at lunch and/or supper.

• You may choose to serve a second, different vegetable in place of the fruit component at lunch and/or supper.
• Adults do not require a serving of milk for supper.

Three components must be served during breakfast. Fluid milk and grains are required for all breakfasts. The third component must be either a vegetable, fruit or a mix of both.

• Meats/meat alternates may be served in place of the entire grains component at breakfast no more than three times per week.

Snacks must be two different components of your choice (i.e. grains and milk, fruit and vegetable, meat alternate and grains, etc.)

• Milk may not be served at snack time when juice is served for the other component.

You must meet the minimum serving size, as determined on the meal pattern cards for each age group, in order to be reimbursed.

Additionally, at least one serving of grains per day must be whole grain-rich in order for the day's meals and snacks to be reimbursed (excluding children under 1 year old).

Food substitutions and other reasonable modifications to the CACFP meal pattern may be necessary to mee the dietary needs of participants who:

• qualify as having a disability under any of the federal nondiscrimination laws;
• are eligible for special education under the IDEA; or
• do not qualify as having a disability under any of the federal nondiscrimination laws, but have other special dietary needs.

For participants with disabilities, USDA requires that CACFP facilities make modifications on a case-by-case basis.

If the meal modification does not meet the meal pattern requirements, a medical statement from a licensed physician or licensed health care professional who is authorized to write medical prescriptions under State law (health care professional) must be provided. Meals that do not meet the CACFP meal pattern requirements are not eligible for reimbursement unless they are supported by a medical statement. 

The medical statement, signed by a State recognized licensed healthcare professional, should include a description of the child’s or adult’s disability so that providers understand how it restricts the child’s or adult’s diet. The statement should also describe what must be done to accommodate the disability. This may include what foods should not be served and recommendations for what should be served. A medical statement is required to justify reimbursement for the modified meal. This statement should be kept on file at the center or day care home. 

For participants without disabilities, the CACFP regulations allow, but do not require, meal modifications. Examples of optional meal modifications include requests related to religious or moral beliefs, general health concerns, and personal food preferences. USDA exemptions include sponsors of Jewish and Seventh-day Adventist institutions.

Yes, but there are minimum serving requirements in order to count towards the crediting.

• Grains require at least 1/4 ounce equivalent per serving
• Fruits and vegetables require at least 1/8 cup (2 tbsp). Exceptions include dried fruit, which credits for twice the volume served, and raw leafy greens, which credit for half the volume served. For example, 1 tbsp of raisins would meet the minimum creditable portion size for dried fruit, whereas 1/4 cup of spinach would be needed to meet the minimum creditable portion size for raw leafy greens.
• Meats/meat alternates require at least 1/4 ounce
• Additionally, fluid milk can be credited in smoothies if a portion contains at least 1/4 cup (2 fl oz) of milk. Otherwise, fluid milk must be served as a beverage or over cereal in order to credit.

Whole grain-rich (WGR) means that at least 50 percent of the grain ingredients of the food are whole grains, and any other grains are enriched. At least one serving of grains per day must be WGR (excluding for children under 1 year old).

There are six methods to determine if a food item is WGR):

1. The food is labeled as "whole wheat" and meets the FDS's standard of identity
2. The food is found on any State Agency's WIC-approved whole grain food list
3. The packaging contains an FDA statement about diets rich in whole grain foods
4. The first ingredient (second if after water) is a whole grain, and the next two grain items (if any) are whole grains, enriched grains, bran or germ.
5. The food meets the whole grain-rich criteria under the NSLP
6. There is manufacturer documentation or a standardized recipe that can determine that whole grains are the primary grain ingredient by weight

There are many resources on our Meal Patterns page that can help you determine if you're serving a whole-grain rich food, such as our Identifying Whole Grain-Rich Guide.

In addition to the standards for WGR, all grain products served in the CACFP must be made with whole grains or enriched meal and/or enriched flour, or bran, or germ, to be creditable.

Ounce equivalents (oz eq) tell you the amount of grain in a portion of food. When serving a grain, you will need to identify how many ounce equivalents are in each serving based on the product and its weight.

For example, to meet 1 oz eq of grains, you would need to serve:

• 16 oz of baked goods (breads, biscuits, bagels, etc.), or
• 22 grams of crackers, or
• 28 grams of cereal grains (oatmeal, pasta, brown rice, etc) by dry product OR 1/2 cup cooked, or
• 28 grams of ready-to-eat (RTE) breakfast cereal, or
• 34 grams of waffles or pancakes

These are general rules for the grain types. Please use the Food Buying Guide or the Using Ounce Equivalents for Grains Worksheet to make sure you're serving the correct oz eq. There are also more resources on our Meal Patterns page.

We're here to help! Here are some of the pages that can help you navigate the nuances of the food program:

1. Meal Patterns: Find education pieces on the five components and meal service that you can print out and keep for easy reference.
2. Learning Center: It's not just for earning your certification! The Learning Center contains numerous webinars from USDA and other sources that are completely free to watch.
3. Policies & Regulations Blog: When there's a new update from USDA, we'll go through it and summarize the language in our policy blog within a few days. It's also a great idea to sign up for our weekly eNews, which will feature these blog posts when they come out so you don't miss a thing!

We also post our Meal Pattern Minute on social media for those quick tips that sometimes slip through the cracks in the big picture of the food program. Be sure to follow us on Instagram or on Facebook for more tips, recipes and resources!

And finally, we encourage you to attend the National Child Nutrition Conference or check out some of the webinars that we hold in our Event Calendar, much of which can also count towards any continuing education certifications you may pursue.