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What is School Meals Initiative (SMI)?


The National School Lunch Program (NSLP) and the School Breakfast Program (SBP) were created to "safeguard the health and well-being of the Nation's children." To further ensure that this mandate is met, Congress amended the law so that school meals as offered are consistent with the goals of the Dietary Guidelines for Americans. Further, school meals must provide, on average, over a week, one-third of the Recommended Dietary Allowances (RDAs) for lunches and one-fourth of the RDAs for breakfasts for specific nutrients. In addition, lunches must provide one-third of the lunchtime energy allowances, while breakfasts must provide one-fourth of the breakfast energy allowances. The Dietary Guidelines, RDAs, and calorie levels are considered, collectively, as the nutrition standards for school meals.

The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) implemented the School Meals Initiative for Healthy Children (SMI) on June 13, 1995. The SMI rule, along with federal legislation, provides four menu-planning systems, which are either Food Based or Nutrient Based. In addition, the law was later amended to allow School Food Authorities (SFAs) to develop their own menu planning system using "any reasonable approach" within guidelines issued by the Department.

The SFAs will not have access to alternative menu planning approaches until final implementing regulations detailing the Department guidelines are issued.

The term School Meals Initiative (SMI) for Healthy Children is often used as a short-cut term for all of the regulations and policies that address the nutrition standards and the menu planning systems. Additional information on SMI may be found in the June 13, 1995, final regulation, the Healthy School Meals Training Manual, and the Nutrient Analysis Protocols for the School Nutrition Programs.

Goals of the Nutrition Review

  • Determine the level of compliance with the nutrition requirements/standards.
  • Assist SFAs in developing a plan to continue progress towards compliance with the nutrition standards; the plan needs to address technical assistance, support, and training needed from the State Agency (SA) and other sources.
  • Provide the appropriate level of technical assistance indicated by the plan.
  • Follow-up, as needed, to monitor progress with the terms of the plan.