The school nutrition bill signed into law by President Obama this week will translate into after-school meals for millions more children across the United States.
U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack called the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act “an historic victory for our nation’s youngsters.” Its most prominent feature is its focus on raising nutritional standards for school breakfasts and lunches.
The new law also paves “the way for an additional 21 million meals” to be served each year to at-risk children in after-school programs, according to Vilsack’s office. It does so by allowing Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP) providers nationwide federal reimbursement for after-school meals.