Child and Adult Care Food Participation plays a vital role in improving the quality of day care for children and elderly adults by making care more affordable for many low-income families. Through CACFP, nearly 3 million children and 90,000 adults receive nutritious meals and snacks each day as part of the day care they receive. The data set contains participation; meals served, and cash payments to states.

The Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act (HHFKA) provided schools and districts that predominately serve low-income children with a new option for meal certification. Under the Community Eligibility Provision, schools do not collect or process meal applications for free and reduced-price meals served in the National School Lunch Program and School Breakfast Program. Schools must serve all meals at no cost with any costs in excess of the Federal reimbursement paid from non-Federal sources. The evaluation, mandated by HHFKA, examined the implementation and impacts of the Community Eligibility Provision.

The School Breakfast Program (SBP) provides cash assistance to States to operate nonprofit breakfast programs in schools and residential childcare institutions. Data here consists of participation, breakfast meals served, and cash provided to states, all by year, month and current.

What We Eat in America (WWEIA) is the dietary intake interview component of the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES). WWEIA is conducted as a partnership between the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS). Two days of 24-hour dietary recall data are collected through an initial in-person interview, and a second interview conducted over the telephone within three to 10 days. Participants are given three-dimensional models (measuring cups and spoons, a ruler, and two household spoons) and/or USDA's Food Model Booklet (containing drawings of various sizes of glasses, mugs, bowls, mounds, circles, and other measures) to estimate food amounts. WWEIA data are collected using USDA's dietary data collection instrument, the Automated Multiple-Pass Method (AMPM). The AMPM is a fully computerized method for collecting 24-hour dietary recalls either in-person or by telephone. For each 2-year data release cycle, the following dietary intake data files are available: Individual Foods File - Contains one record per food for each survey participant. Foods are identified by USDA food codes. Each record contains information about when and where the food was consumed, whether the food was eaten in combination with other foods, amount eaten, and amounts of nutrients provided by the food. Total Nutrient Intakes File - Contains one record per day for each survey participant. Each record contains daily totals of food energy and nutrient intakes, daily intake of water, intake day of week, total number foods reported, and whether intake was usual, much more than usual or much less than usual. The Day 1 file also includes salt use in cooking and at the table; whether on a diet to lose weight or for other health-related reason and type of diet; and frequency of fish and shellfish consumption (examinees one year or older, Day 1 file only). DHHS is responsible for the sample design and data collection, and USDA is responsible for the survey’s dietary data collection methodology, maintenance of the databases used to code and process the data, and data review and processing. USDA also funds the collection and processing of Day 2 dietary intake data, which are used to develop variance estimates and calculate usual nutrient intakes.