Jail

The New York State Correctional Law §500-b was amended on March 31, 2014 to change the minimum age classification in local correctional facilities in order to make NYS Correction Law consistent with the Prison Rape Elimination Act (PREA). Inmates under the age of eighteen must be separately housed from those inmates eighteen years of age and older.

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.

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.

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.

The final rule published on January 26, 2012, requires that frozen fruit served in the National School Lunch Program (NSLP) contain no added sugar beginning in School Year (SY)

2012-2013.  Since 2009, the Department of Agriculture (USDA) has reduced the amount of added sugars in packing media for frozen fruits offered to States; however, most of the frozen strawberries, peaches and apricots offered by USDA currently contain added sugars. 

The Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010 (the Act), Public law 111-296, clarifies requirements for participation in evaluations, studies and research in the Child Nutrition Programs.

The attached message was sent to superintendents, principals and executive directors of non public schools to inform them of the changes in meal pattern regulations for 2012-2013.

Attachment

The appropriation provided in the 2008-2009 New York State Budget for the 2008-09 school year for the school lunch and breakfast programs resulted in a two percent cut to State reimbursement. The budget language specifically states that such reimbursement shall be limited to 98 percent of the State reimbursement rates that were applicable in the 2007-08 school year. All prior year claims received for payment in the 2008-09 fiscal year were not subject to the 2% cut.