The Food and Nutrition Service (FNS), an agency of the United States Department of Agriculture

United States Department of Agriculture

The United States Department of Agriculture is the United States federal executive department responsible for developing and executing U.S. federal government policy on farming, agriculture, and food...

 (USDA), was established on August 8, 1969. FNS is the federal agency responsible for administering the nation’s domestic nutrition assistance programs. It administers the programs through its headquarters (HQ) in Alexandria, VA; regional offices (ROs) in San Francisco, Denver, Dallas, Chicago

Chicago

Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...

, Atlanta, Boston

Boston

Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...

, 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.

Services

FNS products and services enhance the lives of one in five Americans; its main products and services include:

• commodities supplied as: prepared meals that are served at congregate feeding sites; food packages that may be used for home consumption; and disaster relief assistance
• food assistance through Electronic Benefit Transfer
  Electronic Benefit Transfer
  Electronic Benefit Transfer is an electronic system in the United States that allows state governments to provide financial and material benefits via a plastic debit card. Common benefits provided via EBT are typically sorted into two general categories: Food and cash benefits...
  
   (EBT) cards; nutritionally balanced, low-cost or free meals and snacks; vouchers; and, fresh, locally grown produce
• nutrition education and promotion materials and presentations delivered by expert staff and senior managers; and
• food safety and security efforts, technical assistance and informational materials

Nutrition assistance programs

These products and services are provided to customers through fifteen domestic nutrition assistance programs:

• Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program
  Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program
  The United States Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program , historically and commonly known as the Food Stamp Program, is a federal-assistance program that provides assistance to low- and no-income people and families living in the U.S. Though the program is administered by the U.S. Department of...
  
   (SNAP)
• National School Lunch Program (NSLP)
• School Breakfast Program
  School Breakfast Program
  The School Breakfast Program provides federally subsidized breakfasts to children in schools and child care facilities. Permanently authorized by the Child Nutrition Act of 1966 . Federal funding is provided in the form of cash reimbursements for each breakfast served, varied in amount by the...
  
   (SBP)
• Special Milk Program (SMP)
• Summer Food Service Program
  Summer Food Service Program
  The Summer Food Service Program operates in low-income areas during the summer months to provide meals and snacks to children in summer day camps. Federal support consists of guaranteed cash and commodity assistance and support for administration and operating expenses. It is authorized under the...
  
  (SFSP)
• Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children
  Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children
  The Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children is a Federal assistance program of the Food and Nutrition Service of the United States Department of Agriculture for healthcare and nutrition of low-income pregnant women, breastfeeding women, and infants and children...
  
   (WIC)
• Senior Farmers’ Market Nutrition Program (SFMNP)
• Farmers’ Market Nutrition Program (FMNP)
• Child and Adult Care Food Program
  Child and Adult Care Food Program
  The Child and Adult Care Food Program is a type of United States Federal assistance provided by the U.S. Department of Agriculture to States in order to provide a daily subsidized food service for an estimated 3.2 million children and 112,000 elderly or mentally or physically impaired adults in...
  
   (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
  Nutrition Assistance for Puerto Rico
  Nutrition Assistance for Puerto Rico or NAP is a federal assistance nutritional program provided by the US Department of Agriculture solely to the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, a self-governing dependency of the United States. It provides over $1.5 billion in supplemental economic resources to help...
  
  
• Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Program (FFVP)

In the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

, the lunches that are subsidized by the NSLP are nearly ubiquitous in public

Public

In public relations and communication science, publics are groups of individuals, and the public is the totality of such groupings. This is a different concept to the sociological concept of the Öffentlichkeit or public sphere. The concept of a public has also been defined in political science,...

 schools. The program has operated since 1946.

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

MyPyramid

MyPyramid, released by the United States Department of Agriculture on April 19, 2005, is an update on the American food guide pyramid that was used until June 2, 2011, when the USDA's MyPlate replaced it. The icon stresses activity and moderation along with a proper mix of food groups in one's diet...

. The spokescharacter of the "Eat Smart. Play Hard." campaign is Power Panther.