The USDA Nondiscrimination Statement for Food Pantries: Current Full Text (2026)

Short answer: a food pantry that hands out TEFAP or other USDA Foods uses USDA’s “All Other Programs” nondiscrimination statement. The current text, as USDA’s Food and Nutrition Administration publishes it on its Nondiscrimination Statements page (page updated 28 August 2026), is below. Copy it whole; do not shorten, reword or retype it from an old flyer.

The full statement (TEFAP, CSFP and other non-SNAP programs)

Checked against the FNA page on 25 October 2026. The SNAP and FDPIR version on the same page is identical except for where complaints go (USDA Food and Nutrition Administration in Beltsville, Maryland, and FNACIVILRIGHTSCOMPLAINTS@usda.gov). Pantries distributing TEFAP use the version above.

Is the copy on your flyers current?

Hold your printed copy up against the text above. It is out of date if any of these are true:

• The list of protected bases is different from “race, color, national origin, religion, sex, disability, age, marital status, family/parental status, income derived from a public assistance program, political beliefs, or reprisal or retaliation for prior civil rights activity”.
• It does not include “(not all bases apply to all programs)”.
• Complaints go anywhere other than the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights, 1400 Independence Avenue SW, Mail Stop 9410, Washington, D.C. 20250-9410, fax (202) 690-7442, or program.intake@usda.gov.
• It does not end with “USDA is an equal opportunity provider, employer, and lender.”

If your State agency or food bank has given you a version with its own contact details added, use theirs: State agencies can add their own complaint route, and some do.

Where a pantry puts it

FNS Instruction 113-1 is the document State agencies have long used to say where the statement must appear: on materials that tell the public about the program, such as flyers, websites, social posts and handouts. In March 2026 USDA issued CRD 01-2026, modifying Instruction 113-1, so the instruction your State agency gives you now is what governs. In practice State TEFAP manuals ask partner pantries for:

• the full statement on printed and online materials that mention TEFAP or USDA Foods;
• the “And Justice for All” poster where clients can see it;
• annual civil-rights training for staff and volunteers who serve clients;
• a way to take and forward complaints. Texas, for example, wants them sent immediately; Washington within 5 days (see your State page).

Older guidance let very small items, where the full text does not fit, carry a one-line short version: “This institution is an equal opportunity provider.” Some States now require the full statement on client materials, so ask your State agency before you use the short line.

What about the “And Justice for All” poster?

The poster (form AD-475-A for programs like TEFAP) carries the same nondiscrimination language and complaint route. The FNA web page that used to host the poster files was archived in 2026, so get the current poster from your State agency or food bank, which normally supplies it, rather than printing an old copy from a search result. Hang it where clients can see it; Texas, for example, specifies the 11×17 inch size.

Template: the civil-rights corner of your pantry

• “And Justice for All” poster (current version from your State agency) at intake or check-in.
• Any State-required notice beside it (for example a beneficiary-rights notice or the current income table).
• The full nondiscrimination statement on your flyer, website footer and printed client handouts.
• A one-page complaint procedure for volunteers: accept a complaint in any form, including verbally or anonymously; do not try to resolve it; record it; forward it to your food bank or State agency by the State’s deadline. Our policies and procedures template has wording you can copy.
• A training log: who completed civil-rights training, and when.

How PantryPOS handles it

Receipts printed from PantryPOS carry the full USDA “All Other Programs” statement by default, and an admin can replace it in Settings with the exact wording your State agency gives you. The civil-rights complaint log records each complaint and when and to whom it was forwarded, and volunteer credentials track when each person’s civil-rights training is due again, so the paperwork a monitor asks for is in one place.

This guide describes federal regulation and USDA guidance and is not legal advice. Your State agency sets the rules that apply to your pantry, and your food bank’s agreement may add requirements.