Food Based Menu Planning

We are often asked whether it is acceptable to offer condiments such as mayonnaise, ketchup and mustard with  school meals, since some condiments are high in salt, sugar or fat and they add to the cost of meals.

This memorandum is intended to clarify two issues regarding meals offered in the National School Lunch Program (NSLP) and School Breakfast Program (SBP). First, the memorandum clarifies the policy of the USDA Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) regarding student consumption of certain lunch or breakfast items outside of the foodservice area and meal period. Second, it clarifies the requirement to offer whole grain-rich products in the NSLP and SBP.

Meal Items Outside the Foodservice Area

Attached are Revised Questions and Answers related to the Food and Nutrition Service prototype 6 Cents Certification Tool.  Please note that the only revision made to the Q&As is in question 14.  USDA has received several questions about this Q&A and has added information to make a more complete answer.

Menus must be in compliance with all meal pattern requirements regardless of the number of serving lines in the cafeteria. Minimum and maximum ranges for grains, meat/meat alternates and calories must be met by all food items on the menu for the entire cafeteria.  Each physical serving line must also be in compliance with the minimum and maximum ranges.

United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) issued the updated Questions and Answers and Offer Versus Serve (OVS) Guidance Manual on June 14, 2013. The following provides a brief overview of the changes outlined in those documents.

At breakfast, schools must offer all three required food components in at least the minimum required amounts. The components are: grains (with the optional meats/meat alternates); juice/fruit/vegetable; and milk.

Local Education Agencies (LEAs) participating in the National School Lunch and School Breakfast Programs should be aware that there is no federal or State regulation prohibiting students from having food or eating on the school bus.  This prohibition only applies to bus drivers.  The policy allowing or not allowing students to eat and drink on the bus is decided at the local level.

The issue of handling leftover food in school kitchens has been brought to our attention. In some instances there seems to be confusion about the proper procedures related to leftover food.

The United States Department of Agriculture has been a proponent of expanding the national movement to use food recovery and gleaning as an effective means of reducing food waste and helping the hungry for decades.  The NYS Senate (S5664-B) and Assembly (A2409-B) passed a Bill effective March 2018 to amend Education Law Section 305, add

This memo is to clarify the correct way to handle the meal service operation when schools encounter early dismissals.  If the school food authority (SFA) offers a breakfast program, the students would receive breakfast as usual.  If it is possible for the school to move the lunch service times so that all students have the chance to obtain lunch at school, before school is dismissed, this is a viable option.

It has come to our attention that some schools are serving and claiming inappropriate cheese items as their meat/meat alternate component. There are certain types of cheese products that are not allowable to count toward the meat/meat alternate component.

Cheese items labeled “imitation cheese” or “cheese product” are not valid types of cheese and cannot be counted as meat/meat alternates. These types of cheese items have never been creditable components in the Child Nutrition Programs.