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Child agency Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP),National School Lunch Program (NSLP),School Breakfast Program (SBP),Special Milk Program (SMP),Summer Food Service Program(SFSP),Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC),Senior Farmers’ Market Nutrition Program (SFMNP),Farmers’ Market Nutrition Program (FMNP),Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP),Commodity Supplemental Food Program (CSFP),The Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP),Food Distribution Program on Indian Reservations (FDPIR),Food Assistance for Disaster Relief (FADR),Nutrition Assistance Block Grants, including Nutrition Assistance for Puerto Rico, Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Program (FFVP) Parent organization |
The Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) is an agency of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). The FNS is the federal agency responsible for administering the nation’s domestic nutrition assistance programs. The service helps to address the issue of hunger in the United States.
Contents
FNS administers the programs through its headquarters in Alexandria, VA; regional offices in San Francisco, Denver, Dallas, Chicago, Atlanta, Boston, and Robbinsville (NJ); and field offices throughout the US. While its staff number among the USDA's fewest, its budget is by far the largest.
History
FNS was established on August 8, 1969 as an agency of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). Several FNS programs, however, pre-date the creation of the agency and trace their roots back to Depression era programs.
Services
FNS products and services are provided to one in five Americans; its main products and services include:
Nutrition assistance programs
These products and services are provided through fifteen domestic nutrition assistance programs:
The FNS is in charge of the national "Eat Smart. Play Hard." campaign, which encourages Americans (more specifically, children and teens) to follow the healthy eating guidelines set by MyPyramid. The spokescharacter of the "Eat Smart. Play Hard." campaign is Power Panther.