WASHINGTON, Nov. 4, 2010 – USDA Under Secretary for Food, Nutrition and Consumer Services Kevin Concannon today released the following statement on the Institute of Medicine's (IOM) release of recommendations for USDA's Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP):

"USDA's Child and Adult Care Food Program plays a vital role in improving the lives of more than 3.3 million children and adults each day and serves as a key program in our efforts reduce hunger, promote food access, and improve the overall health and nutrition of families throughout the country.

"Ensuring that we are providing quality meals and snacks that are consistent with current science is fundamental to USDA's nutrition mission. IOM contributed greatly to our successes aligning the WIC Food Packages with the Dietary Guidelines, and are central to our effort to update the meal requirements for the National School Lunch and School Breakfast Program. We were pleased to be able to enlist IOM's expertise to make sure that our programs meet the highest nutrition standards, in ways that our program partners can implement and that our children can enjoy.

"We are grateful to the IOM expert committee for the hours of research, discussion, and deliberation that made these recommendations possible, and to the professional organizations, nutrition advocates, parents, guardians or caregivers and others who provided their experience and knowledge to support the IOM effort. Now, we look forward to working with all those who care about the nutrition and health of program clients to substantially improve the meals and snacks served in the diverse child and adult care settings across America. Together, we can build on the success of today's Child and Adult Care Food Program towards an even healthier tomorrow for our children and older adults."

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