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The Dietary Guidelines for the Brazilian Population is acknowledged as a powerful inducer of public food and nutrition policies. In this perspective, this article presents the methodological path and evidence that supported the elaboration of the new parameters of food acquisition of the Brazilian National School Feeding Program (PNAE). This elaboration involved the analyses of: (1) participation of federal resources used to purchase food, grouped according to the NOVA classification, used in Dietary Guidelines for the Brazilian Population, by the set of Brazilian municipalities and according to the classification of the execution (positive or negative); (2) monthly reference menus that were prepared following Dietary Guidelines for the Brazilian Population recommendations; (3) analysis of food acquisition by the sampling of 525 municipalities, involving the relative participation of food groups (according to NOVA) in total expenditures and energy and nutritional quality of purchased foods; and (4) analysis of ultra-processed foods that should not be offered in the school environment. We proposed the adoption of the following parameters for the participation of food groups in relation to the total federal resources used in the purchase of food: ≥ 75% of resources for fresh or minimally processed foods; < 20% for processed or ultra-processed foods and < 5% for processed culinary ingredients, as well as the expansion of the list of foods whose acquisition with federal resources from PNAE is prohibited. This process supported the elaboration of Resolution CD/FNDE n. 6 of May 8, 2020, which provides for the attendance of school feeding to primary education students within the PNAE.