Nutrition Topics

• Childhood Obesity
• Federal Food and Nutrition Programs
• Assessing Dietary
  Quality
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Summer Food Service Program

Using playgrounds, schools, and other locations throughout the country, Summer Food Service Program (SFSP) sponsors serve meals in the summertime to children in low-income neighborhoods. The sponsors include local school districts, government agencies, and nonprofit organizations. A study conducted by Mathematica in the late 1980s determined that the meals generally provided the right proportions of key nutrients and reached the target audience—children from low- to moderate-income households. However, participation rates were low compared to the free and reduced-price components of the National School Lunch Program.

To update information on the SFSP program and to gain insight into why participation rates were so low, we conducted a national study of program implementation in 2001. Researchers focused on:

• Operations at the state, sponsor, and site levels
• Promotional efforts aimed at sponsors and families
• Foods offered, nutritional quality, and amounts eaten 
• Other activities for children at program sites

More than 4,000 local sponsors provided about 130 million meals at more than 35,000 feeding sites. The number of children served in July 2001 (2.1 million per day) was about 14 percent of the number who received free or reduced-price school meals each day during the previous school year. On average, SFSP meals provided the levels of key nutrients recommended for school meals. However, breakfasts were slightly lower in food energy than recommended, and lunches were higher in fat. Half the SFSP sponsors were school districts, which operated about half the sites and served about half the meals. Other sponsors included government agencies, private nonprofit organizations, and residential camps.

The study was sponsored by the USDA's Economic Research Service in cooperation with the Food and Nutrition Service. Data were collected from 126 sponsors, 131 former sponsors, and 162 sites nationwide in summer and fall 2001.

On a related note, an issue brief looked at the Seamless Summer Food Waiver, a federal initiative to help feed a larger number of low-income children during the summer months. The brief noted that sponsors found the seamless waiver to be an attractive option. It helped simplify operations, increased flexibility, and allowed some sponsors to feed more children. The brief was based on a study funded by the David and Lucile Packard Foundation. In 2004, the Child Nutrition and WIC Reauthorization Act made the Seamless Summer Option available to school sponsors nationally.

Publications

"Feeding Low-Income Children When School Is Out: The Summer Food Service Program" (March 2003) Executive Summary (April 2003)