Implementing the New Child and Adult Care Food Program's Nutrition Standards in Boston

In 2017, the US Department of Agriculture's Child and Adult Care Food Program's (CACFP's) nutrition standards were updated to improve nutrition and meal quality while remaining feasible for child care providers to implement. We conducted a pre-post study of 13 family child care home (FCCH) providers in Boston, Massachusetts, to compare reported opportunities for training and technical assistance and knowledge of new nutrition standards before the effective date of the updates (October 1, 2017) and 1 year later. The McNemar test was used to test for differences in provider responses. Few FCCH providers received training or technical assistance or had knowledge of most new standards at baseline or at follow-up; however, provider-reported knowledge of the whole-grain standard improved over time (from 6 providers to 12 providers) (P = .03). One year post implementation, FCCH providers still needed additional training, technical assistance, or other support to meet the new nutrition standards for meals served to children.