On behalf of the Texas Department of Agriculture, thank you for joining us at MegaCon 2026! Your participation helped make this event a meaningful opportunity to connect, learn, and strengthen partnerships that support child nutrition programs across Texas.

To view or download the presentations that were shared during the conference, please visit SquareMeals.

We would love to hear your thoughts about your MegaCon 2026 experience! Please click here to complete our survey!

Congratulations to the contracting entities recognized by TDA during the awards ceremony on Tuesday! You can view and download photos with the Commissioner here!

On November 20, 2025, TDA submitted two CACFP waiver requests to USDA. The first would have allowed sponsors of child care centers and adult day care centers to conduct one offsite monitoring review per year. The second request would have allowed any sponsor already approved to conduct one offsite monitoring review to conduct a second offsite monitoring review for sites over 2 hours or 100 miles away from the sponsor's nearest field office. USDA denied those waiver requests on March 3, 2026, citing program integrity concerns around waiver implementation.

TDA has updated the micro-purchase logs for the child nutrition and household programs to reflect the new micro-purchase threshold of $15,000. The updated micro-purchase log used by the Child Nutrition Programs also includes additional clarity around its use in CACFP. The forms can be located on each respective program’s Administration/Forms page.

TDA has published the brand new consolidated CACFP handbook, a single resource for all CACFP independent centers and sponsors, regardless of the CACFP sub-program(s) they operate. The handbook has been significantly rewritten, reformatted, reorganized, and updated with new policy. Each section contains a Log of Section updates that contains all substantive updates since the last update. Updates are also highlighted in yellow within each section.

The handbook is located on the CACFP Policy/Handbook page of SquareMeals.

The revised Crediting Handbook for the Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP) is now available online here. This updated resource will help CACFP operators serve meals and snacks that encourage healthy choices, healthy families, and healthy outcomes.

The Crediting Handbook is a technical assistance resource that helps CACFP operators plan menus that meet current USDA meal pattern requirements. The handbook works with the Food Buying Guide for Child Nutrition Programs to help with crediting foods and planning meals.

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TDA has updated the guidance and instructions that accompany the Good Cause Transfer form. They are available on the CACFP Administration/Forms page of SquareMeals.

To coincide with the release of the new CACFP Handbook, TDA has updated and created forms and templates to better align with the clarified guidance contained in the handbook.

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USDA has recently released policy memo SP 05-2026, CACFP 03-2026, SFSP 03-2026, 2026 Appropriations Act: Effect on Child Nutrition Programs, detailing the effect of the Act on the Child Nutrition Programs.

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Thank you for taking some time to join and participate in our April TANS Talk webinar. Visit SquareMeals to find a video recording of the webinar under the "Previous TANS Talks" module