Skip to main content
California Department of Education Logo

USDA Foods Program Information

Information regarding U.S. Department of Agriculture Foods for participants of the National School Lunch and Summer Food Programs.

USDA Foods Entitlement

An agency's entitlement is the dollar value of USDA Foods each recipient agency is eligible to receive. An agency's donated food entitlement is calculated by the number of reimbursable lunches served during the previous year (July 1–June 30) multiplied by the current per-meal value. The per-meal value for USDA Foods is established annually, in July, by the United States Congress.

USDA Program Resources

Value of Donated Foods Notices External link opens in new window or tab.
Current and prior year Federal Register notices announcing the national average value of donated foods for the National School Lunch Program and the Child and Adult Care Food Program.

USDA Foods Fact Sheets External link opens in new window or tab.
USDA Foods fact sheets developed for food expected to be available for schools and institutions participating in the National School Lunch Program.

USDA Foods Expected to be Available List External link opens in new window or tab.
A list of food available or expected to be available by USDA to participants in the School and Child Nutrition Programs.

USDA Foods Pricing Information External link opens in new window or tab.
USDA's estimated Fair Market Values (FMV) for current and prior years. FMVs are updated every year on November 15.

USDA Foods Price List and Serving Guide

An alphabetical listing of USDA Foods that provides pack size, approximate number of servings provided, average serving size, and approximate number of servings from each pack/unit ordered.

Questions:   Food Distribution Program | FoodDistribution@cde.ca.gov
Last Reviewed: Wednesday, August 21, 2024
Related Content
  • Food Distribution
    Information about United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) food commodities, Department of Defense (DoD) fresh produce, distribution centers, and processing of USDA Foods.
  • Food Distribution Management Bulletins
    Links to the Food Distribution Program management bulletins.
  • USDA Foods Processing Program
    Information regarding processing United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Foods into more usable end products.
Recently Posted in Nutrition
  • Direct Certification Requirements in the SNPs (added 07-Mar-2025)
    This management bulletin supersedes management bulletins 00-102 and NSD-SNP-08-2012 regarding direct certification (DC) requirements for local educational agencies (LEA) participating in the federal School Nutrition Programs (SNP).
  • Universal Benefits Application Now Available (added 07-Mar-2025)
    Universal Benefits Application Now Available - Use for SUN Bucks Eligibility.
  • National Nutrition Month 2025 (added 25-Feb-2025)
    The Nutrition Services Division encourages program operators to celebrate National Nutrition Month and National School Breakfast Week.
  • Nutrition Services Division New Learning Site (added 21-Feb-2025)
    This new learning management system will be used as the primary venue for delivering training content to satisfy your annual mandatory training hours for Professional Standards and beyond.
  • U.S. Department of Agriculture Requests Feedback (added 21-Feb-2025)
    The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Food and Nutrition Service is seeking voluntary feedback through an online survey pertaining to the USDA Foods in Schools Product Information Sheets and the USDA Foods Database.