This memorandum is meant to provide clarification and guidance on policies and procedures for donated food storage and distribution as they relate to product dating.
Washing Produce - Part of a five-video series, available in English and Spanish, offers “tricks of the trade” to help food service operators keep produce safe and at a high quality.
Temperature Readings - Part of a five-video series, available in English and Spanish, offers “tricks of the trade” to help food service operators keep produce safe and at a high quality.
Storage Temperatures - Part of a five-video series, available in English and Spanish, offers “tricks of the trade” to help food service operators keep produce safe and at a high quality.
Ethylene Gas - Part of a five-video series, available in English and Spanish, offers “tricks of the trade” to help food service operators keep produce safe and at a high quality.
Ready-to-eat - Part of a five-video series, available in English and Spanish, offers “tricks of the trade” to help food service operators keep produce safe and at a high quality.
This memorandum and its attachment supersede SP-37-2011, Child Nutrition 2010: Enhancing the School Food Safety Program. Attached are questions and answers regarding the school food safety requirements for schools participating in FNS child nutrition programs.
The practices addressed in this document will help program operators enhance the safety of fruits and vegetables grown in school gardens.
This memorandum satisfies GAO’s recommendations for the Food and Nutrition Service to issue more specific guidance to states and school districts regarding the applicability of the food safety inspections requirement in schools that do not prepare food, such as those that only serve pre-packaged meals or meals delivered from a central preparation location (referred to in this memorandum as service-only sites).
A number of schools nationwide are still having difficulty obtaining the two food safety inspections required by the Child Nutrition and WIC Reauthorization Act of 2004. Although FNS realizes that many of the difficulties schools face are beyond their control, we would like to stress that local program operators are responsible for requesting the food safety inspections from the public health department and documenting their efforts.