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Meal Pattern Minute: Crediting Corn

July 11, 2025

When planning menus for the Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP), understanding how foods  credit is essential for meeting meal pattern requirements and corn is one of those foods that often sparks confusion. Is it a vegetable? A grain? Or somehow both? 

 You can get a quick and clear answer to whether corn credits as a vegetable or a grain by tuning into the Meal Pattern Minute presented by Isabel Ramos-Lebron, MS, RDN, LD. This short, informative reel delivers practical guidance in an accessible format that can be forwarded to CACFP operators or used for training purposes. Watch the video, then read below for a deeper dive into how corn is credited in your menus. 

ANSWER: 

It depends! If corn is dried and then ground, this credits towards the grains component. Examples are whole grain corn, whole or enriched cornmeal or nixtamalized corn. Also, popcorn comes from dried corn kernels, making this credit as a grain. Now, if corn is fresh, canned or frozen this would credit towards the vegetables component. Examples are corn on the cob and canned sweet corn. 

For federal guidance on how corn credits in the CACFP, refer to the resources below: 

  • When corn products are credited as a grain component, they must meet the same standards as other grain items, such as being whole grain-rich or enriched. For more information about crediting corn as a grain component, review the USDA’s Grain Requirements in the Child and Adult Care Food Program; Questions and Answers policy memo.
  • Additional corn products that a CACFP operator may credit are hominy, corn masa and masa harina. This excerpt from the USDA policy memo shares how a CACFP operator may use hominy, corn masa and masa harina. 
    • Crediting Coconut, Hominy, Corn masa and Masa Harina 
      • Hominy
        • A ¼ cup of canned, drained hominy or cooked, whole hominy (from dried hominy) credits as ¼ cup vegetable.
        • A ½ cup of cooked or 1 ounce (28 grams) of dry hominy grits credits as 1 ounce equivalent whole grain.
      • Corn Masa, Masa Harina, Corn Flour, and Cornmeal
        • Program operators now may calculate contributions from corn masa, masa harina, nixtamalized corn flour and nixtamalized cornmeal in the same manner as all other creditable grain ingredients and food items. Crediting is determined by weight as listed in Exhibit A: Grain Requirements for Child Nutrition Programs, or by grams of creditable grain per portion. However, if any non-whole corn ingredient is labeled as enriched, or includes nutrients sub-listed after the corn ingredient in the ingredient statement, such as: yellow corn flour (folic acid, riboflavin, niacin and thiamine), then the corn ingredient can contribute only to the enriched grain requirements. Corn that is not “whole” or “enriched” or is not treated with lime (nixtamalized) does not credit as a grain in the CNPs.  
  • When corn products are credited as a vegetable component, CACFP operators can refer to the Crediting Vegetables in the Child Nutrition Program Tip Sheet. 
  • The Crediting Handbook for CACFP provides a quick reference on whether a corn product is creditable in the CACFP and if it is, whether it credits as a grain or vegetable component. 
  •  CACFP operators programming in American Samoa, Guam, Puerto Rico, U.S. Virgin Islands, Hawaii, and institutions or facilities in any State that serve primarily American Indian or Alaska Native participants have the flexibility to substitute any creditable vegetable, including corn, for the grains component. For more information about this, refer to this Meal Pattern Minute blog. 

 

Add one of these corn-inspired recipes listed below to your menu:

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