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TDA Food & Nutrition Open Data

Food and Nutrition program data is now self-service 24/7

Texas Department of Agriculture (TDA) has joined multiple state and local governments in adding their most commonly requested data to the Texas Open Data Portal for public access at Data.Texas.Gov.  These datasets are accessible to the public from the Agriculture tile on the Data.Texas.Gov home page and are exportable to Excel-compatible files.

FAQs


What data is available?

Sponsors (Contracting Entities - CE) and sites participating in federal-funded nutrition assistance programs provide TDA with information for program application and meals served using the Texas Unified Nutrition Program System (TX-UNPS). Data published to the Open Data Portal is extracted from this system and published by program for program years 2015-2016 to present. 
  • Contact and Program Participation data: TDA collects data from Contracting Entity (CE) sponsors and point-of-service Sites during the application process including who is participating in meal programs, what components of the program they are participating in, where they are located, who is sponsoring them, and how to get in touch with them.
  • Meal Counts and Reimbursement data: TDA collects data from participants during the claims process including how many eligible meals were served in a claim month, what type of meals were served, total monthly enrollments, free and reduced-price eligibility enrollments, and how much participants were reimbursed for those meals. Operators have 60 days from the last meal service day to submit claims.
  • Food Service Management Company (FSMC) data: TDA collects data from CE sponsors participating in School Nutrition Programs about Food Service Management Companies they may contract with. Published data is currently available for School Nutrition Program participants for the active program year only and is updated at the beginning of the program year. 

How often is data updated?

Data is typically updated daily within 30 days of the start of the active program period. Updates to data end six months after the close of the program period and data remains published as historical, archived data. 
Each program has a different program period.
  • School Nutrition Program (NSLP, SBP) spans July 1 of one calendar year through June 30 of the next calendar year.
  • Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP) spans October 1 of one calendar year through September 30 of the next calendar year.
  • Summer meal programs (SSO/SFSP) typically runs May through August of the same calendar year unless otherwise noted.

How do I access the data?

Use the program icons below to access the data overview page for that program or copy and paste their URL into your web browser.  
Program data overview pages include links to raw datasets and include data summaries such as filterable sponsor contacts, maps, and program dashboards. 


What do some of these terms mean?

Program Terminology:
  • CE - Contracting Entity (CE); business that enters into a contract with TDA to administer the program on behalf of one or more meal sites.  Also known as program sponsor.
  • Site - Individual organization or business that provides the location and/or resources for meal service. Also known as provider for Day Care Homes.
  • Claim - Record of meals served submitted to TDA for reimbursement of meal costs.
  • School Nutrition Program (SNP) - Includes National School Lunch Program (NSLP), School Breakfast Program (SBP), Special Milk Program, Afterschool Care Program (ASCP, snacks), and Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Program (FFVP)
  • Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP) - includes adult and child care centers and day care homes. 
  • CACFP Center - Includes adult day care centers, child care centers, afterschool at-risk programs, Head Start programs, emergency shelters, and Outside School Hours sites.
  • CACFP Day Care Home - Includes independent child day care home providers.
  • Summer Meal Programs - Includes the Summer Food Service Program (SFSP) and Seamless Summer Option (SSO).
  • Detailed information about what is reported on a dataset can be found on the dataset's home page ("Primer" page).
For more information, please visit us at SquareMeals.org.  

What if I can't find what I'm looking for?

If the TDA Food and Nutrition data you need isn't on the Texas Open Data Portal, you can submit a Public Information Request found on our website.
We welcome feedback on what Food and Nutrition data you would like to see on the Texas Open Data Portal. Use the feedback links below to let us know!

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