Food Assistance: Information on Meal Costs in the National School Lunch
Program (Briefing Report, 12/01/93, GAO/RCED-94-32BR).

On an average school day, an estimated 25 million children at more than
93,000 locations nationwide receive meals through the National School
Lunch Program.  In fiscal year 1993, federal funding for the program
totaled about $4.7 billion.  In 1991 and 1992, the Agriculture
Department's Food and Nutrition Service, which runs the program,
published the results of a survey of state and local school officials on
the cost of meals.  The results suggested that the level of federal
reimbursement paid to schools for each free meal they served was roughly
equivalent to the national average cost to produce the meal.  This
briefing report discusses (1) GAO's review of the Food and Nutrition
Service study, (2) the ability of local school food authorities to
produce meals at or below the reimbursement rate for free meals, (3)
differences in meal production costs among regions, and (4) the
appropriateness of the index that the Food and Nutrition Service uses to
adjust reimbursement rates.

--------------------------- Indexing Terms -----------------------------

 REPORTNUM:  RCED-94-32BR
     TITLE:  Food Assistance: Information on Meal Costs in the National 
             School Lunch Program
      DATE:  12/01/93
   SUBJECT:  School lunch programs
             Food relief programs
             Public assistance programs
             Program evaluation
             State-administered programs
             Child care programs
             Schools
             Cost analysis
             Agricultural products
             Comparative analysis
IDENTIFIER:  National School Lunch Program
             Consumer Price Index
             FNS Consumer Price Index Food Away From Home Series Index
             USDA Commodity Price Support Program
             
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