Posted February 4, 2014
The USDA’s Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) recently
released a proposed rule which would create minimum hiring and training
standards for school nutrition professionals, according to a Farm Futures
article available here. The proposed rule is available here.
Dr. Janey Thornton, Deputy Under Secretary for Food,
Nutrition and Consumer Service, said the proposed standards “will ensure that
all school nutrition professionals meet the same national requirements as they
prepare healthy meals served in the National School Lunch and School Breakfast
Programs.”
The rules are part of the Health Hunger Free Kids Act
of 2010, which requires the Secretary of Agriculture to establish a program of
mandatory education, training, and certification for all school nutrition
directors responsible for the management of a school food authority.
The proposal would: “Create minimum hiring standards
for school food authority directors based on a school district’s size; establish
minimum hiring standards for State directors of school nutrition and State
distributing agencies; and require minimum annual training for all new and
current school nutrition professionals,” according to a USDA blog post here.
For more information on nutrition programs, please
visit the National Agricultural Law Center’s website here.
