Dietary Guidelines for Americans, 2025-2030 – Eat Real Food
February 11, 2026
There are no immediate changes to program requirements and operators must continue to follow current CACFP and SFSP meal pattern requirements.
USDA released a memorandum outlining some of the key updates included in the 2025-2030 Dietary Guidelines for Americans (DGAs). While USDA encourages CACFP and SFSP operators to familiarize themselves with the recommendations, they emphasize that there are no immediate changes to program requirements and operators must continue to follow current CACFP and SFSP meal pattern requirements. USDA states that they are actively working on a proposed rule and no meal pattern changes will be in effect until a final rule is published.
Why It Matters
The CACFP is required to align with the most recent DGAs. With the release of the 2025-2030 DGAs, USDA is beginning the rulemaking process to update the CACFP meal pattern. Before any regulatory updates can be made, USDA must release a proposed rule and allow a comment period for child nutrition stakeholders to provide their feedback on USDA’s recommended changes to programs. Once the proposed rule is released, NCA will gather feedback from our members and community and submit an organization response. NCA will also support our members and the community in submitting their own comments. After reviewing community comments, USDA will then move towards a final rulemaking that will implement regulatory changes to child nutrition programs.
It is very important that CACFP and SFSP operators understand that the recommendations provided in USDA’s Memo do not make changes to current meal patterns and are merely informative of what proposed changes we could see in the proposed rulemaking. It is particularly important to address two recommendations from the USDA memo that do not align with current CACFP meal patterns:
*See Team Nutrition’s Serving Milk in the CACFP for a full breakdown of fluid milk requirements by age-group.
USDA Memo
On January 7, 2026, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) released the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, 2025-2030 (Guidelines). These Guidelines call on every American to eat more real food. Farmers, ranchers, health care professionals, insurers, educators, community leaders, industry, and lawmakers across all levels of government are encouraged to join in this critical effort. America’s future depends on what we grow, what we serve, and what we choose to eat. These Guidelines place whole, nutrient dense food back at the center of our diets. You can access the new edition, the New Pyramid, and the daily servings guide at https://realfood.gov/.
In summary, these Guidelines have been updated by:
- Prioritizing a variety of high quality, nutrient-dense protein foods at every meal from animal sources, including eggs, poultry, seafood, and red meat, as well as a variety of plant-sourced protein foods including beans, peas, lentils, legumes, nuts, seeds, and soy;
- Encouraging a variety of dairy fat options, including whole and reduced-fat milk;
- Promoting the consumption of vegetables and fruits of all types, including fresh, frozen, canned, juiced, and dried, throughout the day;
- Incorporating healthy fats from whole foods such as meats, poultry, eggs, seafood, nuts, seeds, full-fat dairy, olives, and avocados;
- Prioritizing fiber-rich whole grains while significantly reducing refined grains, especially those high in added sugars; and
- Limiting certain highly processed foods, added sugars, and refined carbohydrates.
USDA recognizes the important role that child nutrition program operators play in serving nutritious meals and snacks to the children in their care, and that these meal programs are essential to providing the healthiest meals and snacks most children receive each day.1 While release of the new Guidelines does not immediately impact program requirements, Secretary of Agriculture, Brooke L. Rollins, strongly encourages child nutrition program operators to familiarize themselves with the key recommendations and consider how these Guidelines can be incorporated into program meals and snacks to promote healthy outcomes and healthy families. These Guidelines provide operators the opportunity to critically evaluate how their menus can be updated to prioritize food options that promote consumption of whole, nutrient-dense protein foods, dairy, vegetables, fruits, healthy fats, and whole grains while limiting highly processed foods, added sugars, and refined carbohydrates. State agencies and program operators are invited to share their creative ideas with their Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) Regional Offices, as they could become the model for other States and USDA.
This historic release kicks off a multi-year effort to update USDA’s child nutrition programs based on this guidance, including through rulemaking and education. FNS is actively developing a proposed rule to update child nutrition program nutrition standards and meal requirements in the Code of Federal Regulations to align with the goals of the updated Guidelines. USDA looks forward to receiving stakeholder feedback on proposed changes to program requirements through the rulemaking and public comment process. Until a final rule implementing changes to meal requirements is complete, all operators should continue meeting current requirements while working towards providing the healthiest food options to program participants. Additionally, USDA is developing an education campaign to accompany this new edition to support healthy eating outside of school where intakes need dramatic improvements to drive meaningful change. We look forward to continuing our work together to support healthy choices, healthy outcomes, and healthy families.
Read USDA’s full memo: Dietary Guidelines for Americans, 2025-2030 – Eat Real Food (CACFP 01-2026; SFSP 01-2026).