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CNAC Guidelines

Guidelines for the Child Nutrition Advisory Council (CNAC).

The Child Nutrition Advisory Council (CNAC) is committed to fulfilling its role as an advisory body to the California Department of Education (CDE) and the State Superintendent of Public Instruction. It values its role in providing relevant feedback to those entities and their representatives for the improvement of the health and nutrition for California's children.

In order to provide thoughtful and informed advice and recommendations to those entities, the CNAC utilizes the following process for receiving information for consideration:

  • Information that is critical and relevant to the topic to be considered should be provided to the CNAC staff liaison in electronic format at least six weeks in advance of the meeting date. The CNAC staff liaison will ensure that this information is provided to the Chair for consideration for the agenda or other resolution.

  • Information should include the entity being represented (if any), a summary of key points, the specific areas of focus for the Council members to consider, and any proposed recommendations.

  • The CNAC Chair and the CNAC staff liaison will jointly determine whether the item should be placed on the agenda for action.

  • If the item is placed on the agenda, the representative of the entity requesting CNAC input should attend the CNAC meeting and be prepared to participate in any discussion and respond to questions raised by the CNAC members or the public.

  • The CNAC may provide recommendations or take other action it deems appropriate such as placing the item on a future agenda for further discussion and consideration.
Questions:   Nutrition Services Division | 800-952-5609
Last Reviewed: Wednesday, February 11, 2026
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