National School Lunch Program

Attached is a memo from USDA regarding Processing entitled "Approval of End Products and Monitoring of End Product Sales", which I was asked to disseminate.

Attachment 

The U.S. Department of Agriculture published a final rule on Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP) standards for the school nutrition programs in the December 15, 2009 issue of the Federal Register. The final rule implements the legislative provisions included in the 2004 Child Nutrition and WIC Reauthorization Act that require all school food authorities that participate in the National School Lunch Program or the School Breakfast Program to develop a food safety system that implements the HACCP system. Please see the link below for additional information.

When contracting with a Food Service Management Company (FSMC), a school food authority (SFA) has several fiduciary responsibilities that must periodically take place during the term of the contract to ensure the fiscal integrity of its child nutrition programs, for example: administrative oversight, monitoring, reviewing invoices and record keeping.

The United States Department of Agriculture's (USDA's) Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) has released its updated version of the 1995 guidance entitled Contracting with Food Service Management Companies: Guidance for School Food Authorities. This guidance provides clear information and guidance regarding the responsibilities that reside with the district or school or residential child care institution (RCCI)when it decides to contract with a Food Service Management Company (FSMC).

Any public school that intends to use a Food Service Management Company (FSMC) to run their food service operation must competitively bid for services. A non-public school, jail or residential child care institution participating in a Child Nutrition Program that wants to use a management company to manage their food service operation in whole or in part must competitively bid for those services.

State Agencies (SAs) have just received another memo from USDA reiterating the importance of School Food Authorities (SFAs) ensuring Food Service Management Company (FSMC) compliance with the procurement requirements. These requirements are established in regulations affecting the National School Lunch Program (NSLP), School Breakfast Program (SBP), and Special Milk Program (SMP) which became effective on November 30, 2007 and emphasizes that:

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.

            The “And Justice for All” posters are due for revision; however, the re-printing has been delayed indefinitely.  In the interim, the 1999 “And Justice for All” posters are to be used in all programs administered with USDA funds.  Please note that text in the 2013 updated Nondiscrimination Statement required to be used on all Child Nutrition Program materials is different from text on the posters.  USDA recognizes this, but directs that the 1999 version of the poster is acceptable for display.

The Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010 (the Act), Public Law 111-296, establishes a requirement for making water available to children in the National School Lunch Program (NSLP). The purpose of this memorandum is to provide guidance on the implementation of this provision.

In response to the new meal pattern regulations, a few public schools have inquired as to what action needs to be taken to end participation in the National School Lunch Program either in a specific school or for the entire district.

Before you pursue this option, carefully consider all the ramifications of this decision. The Child Nutrition Office is available to assist you to understand and comply with the new meal pattern requirements. Directors/managers all across the State are working together to learn new menu planning strategies.