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K-12 School Foodservice Definitions
USDA Foods The USDA Foods Program (formerly known as The USDA Commodity Distribution Program) provides approximately 15-20% of the food served in the National School Lunch Program (NSLP). The program, established in 1935, serves two key roles: to support American agriculture and to provide nutrition assistance to children and families. USDA Foods are distributed to nutrition assistance programs through school lunch programs, emergency feeding (pantries), food distribution on Indian Reservations, food packages for the elderly and to supplement disaster feeding. Schools can elect to receive “direct delivery” USDA Foods for on-site preparation (formerly known as brown box) divert USDA Foods to a manufacturer for further processing to make into usable end products such as fully cooked hamburgers or chicken patties or divert funds to the Department of Defense (DoD) fresh fruit and vegetable program. USDA Foods Tracker Third-party tracking programs to help schools, distributors, and manufacturers track the drawdown of USDA Foods pounds and dollars in further processed commodities. Using these free tracker tools helps districts ensure they are using their full entitlement dollars throughout the school year. Two examples: • K12 Food Service • Processor Link
USDA Foods Further Processing USDA Foods further processing allows State distributing agencies (SDA) and recipient agencies (RA) such as school districts to contract with commercial food processors to convert raw and/ or bulk USDA Foods into a variety of convenient, ready-to-use end products Value Based Procurement Value Based Procurement identifies and assigns value to the beliefs that your district wants to prioritize when making purchasing decisions identified during the solicitation process. Whole Grain Rich The term designated by FNS to indicate grain products in which at least 50 percent of the grain in the product is whole grain. Any remaining grains in the product are enriched. Whole-grain- rich products must conform to USDA Food and Nutrition Service guidance to contribute toward the grains component.
K-12 School Foodservice Definitions | 9
UrbanSchoolFoodAlliance.org
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