Universal Free School Meals
Page last updated on March 20, 2026
Funder: Agriculture, Food, and Nutrition Evidence Center
Status: Complete
Contract Start: N/A
Project Description: The Evidence Center conducted a systematic review examining the association between universal free school meals and various outcomes, including meal participation rates, attendance, dietary intake and quality, food waste, economic impact, food insecurity, anthropometrics, disciplinary actions, stigma, and shaming. This review is intended to provide an unbiased assessment of the state of the evidence related to universal free school meals with the potential to inform decision-makers.
Research Questions
1. What is the association between universal free school meals (UFSM) and school and student outcomes in U.S. schools?
Approach: Systematic Review
Key Findings:
- Six studies comprising more than 11,000 schools met the inclusion criteria.
- Implementation of UFSM was associated with increased lunch (3 studies) and breakfast (1 study) participation, no change or modest improvements to attendance (2 studies), and decreased obesity prevalence (1 study) and suspensions (1 study). The association with lunch participation had a moderate certainty of evidence, while the other associations had low or very low certainty of evidence.
- Studies did not report several outcomes, such as diet quality and food security.
Peer-Reviewed Publication:
Spill MK, Trivedi R, Thoerig RC, Balalian AA, Schwartz MB, Gundersen C, Odoms-Young A, Racine EF, Foster MJ, Davis JS, MacFarlane AJ. Universal Free School Meals and School and Student Outcomes: A Systematic Review. JAMA Netw Open. 2024 Aug 1;7(8):e2424082. doi: 10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2024.24082. PMID: 39120904; PMCID: PMC11316229.
