USDA Food and Nutrition Service Programs for Out-of-School-Time Providers.
This memorandum provides information relating to section 205 of the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010. This provision requires school food authorities participating in the National School Lunch Program to ensure that schools are providing the same level of support for lunches served to students who are not eligible for free or reduced price lunches (i.e., paid lunches) as they are for lunches served to students eligible for free lunches.
To ensure program integrity, school districts must sample household applications certified for free or reduced-price meals, contact the households, and verify eligibility. This process (known as household verification) can be burdensome for both school officials and households. Direct verification uses information from certain other means-tested programs to verify eligibility without contacting applicants. Potential benefits include: less burden for households, less work for school officials, and fewer students with school meal benefits terminated because of nonresponse to verification requests.
The attached memorandum is Food Distribution Policy Memo FD-110, which clarifies requirements in crediting for, and use of, USDA donated foods in contracts with food service management companies, and provides guidance to ensure compliance with such requirements in the first and final years of such contracts.
Today’s unpredictable economy has made it important to consider accounting for the fluctuating costs of goods and services that are beyond the control of either the school food authority or the vendor.
FDD has received several complaints recently about dried fruit and grain products that became infested in storage. Therefore, it is imperative that dried fruit and grain products are distributed to the end user as soon as possible after receipt from the vendor to avoid problems with infestation.