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National Nutrition Month® is a great time to focus on your health goals! To lend support along the way, MyPlate is here with our latest initiative – Start Simple with MyPlate.

Beginning next summer, schools will no longer have to request state exemptions to serve products that are not whole grain. The final rule allows more flexibility for serving whole grains, which will help with some of the challenges cafeterias were having, such as pastas that didn’t hold up in the food service line.

On October 10, Hurricane Michael made landfall in Florida. It was the strongest storm to hit the U.S. in a quarter-century, and the strongest on record to hit the state’s panhandle. Michael went on to track across the southeastern United States and continue its destruction through southern Georgia. At USDA, we knew our mission, in this difficult situation as in all of our work was clear: do right and feed everyone.

As Farm to School Month drew to a close in October, I spent a delightful day in Vermont visiting schools, meeting students and talking to the professionals responsible for serving wholesome, nutritious school meals.

Earlier this week, USDA Secretary Sonny Perdue and Acting Deputy Under Secretary for Food, Nutrition, and Consumer Services Brandon Lipps joined students in New Jersey, Virginia and the District of Columbia for wholesome school lunches in celebration of National School Lunch Week, as proclaimed by President Trump. Nearly 100,000 schools and institutions serve almost 30 million children through the National School Lunch Program. Secretary Perdue visited Discovery Elementary School in Arlington, Va., where he met with the school’s nutrition professionals, and served the children meals before joining them for lunch.

While many students were busy enjoying summer vacation, our nation’s hardworking school nutrition professionals were also staying busy, dedicating their time to training and meal planning for the upcoming school year. During National School Lunch Week (October 15-19), USDA recognizes the tireless effort and love that goes into preparing school lunches for 30 million children.

My mother has a jar in her kitchen with the phrase, “Cooking is love made visible.” I can say for a fact that her food spreads a lot of love, and I think the same could be said about school food service professionals.

As the school year ends across the country and summer approaches, summer meals are critical in the lives of millions of our nation’s youth, whose risk for food insecurity increases during the summer months when they no longer have access to the National School Lunch and School Breakfast Programs (NSLP).

Did you know that the month of May has been designated National Allergy Awareness Month? While many of us are sneezing our way through the pollen season, we should also remember many people are affected by food allergies every day.

At USDA our mission is a vital one: to reduce hunger and increase food security by providing children and low-income people access to food, a nutritious diet and nutrition education. And that mission was put to the test in 2017, in the aftermath of a trio of devastating hurricanes that slammed into Texas, Florida, U.S. Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico.