New nutrition guidelines offer additional lunch reimbursement

There are many changes happening in school nutrition this year worth noting. School Food Authorities have the opportunity to receive an additional six cents per reimbursable lunch if they adhere to the new meal pattern and receive certification by the state. The additional reimbursement will become available to all certified SFAs Oct. 1, 2012.

All SFAs have the opportunity to apply for certification in advance and, in many cases, only need to be certified once. In addition, all schools within the district must follow the new meal pattern for the district to become certified. SFAs that do not apply for certification must still adhere to the new meal pattern guidelines but will not receive the additional six cents per reimbursable lunch. Therefore, it is in your school’s best interest to encourage your school food service director to submit all required documentation as early as possible.

Districts that wish to apply for certification will be required to submit the following information to the Child Nutrition office staff:

  • One week of menus of each menu offered, by age grade group, within the SFA for both lunch and, if offered, breakfast. This means SFAs must submit a breakfast and lunch menu for grades K-5, a breakfast and lunch menu for grades 6-8, and a breakfast and lunch menu for grades 9-12
  • USDA tool menu worksheet
  • A nutrient analysis of calories and saturated fats using existing menu analysis software or using the USDA simplified nutrient analysis tool
  • A letter of attestation stating that documentation submitted for certification is representative of the ongoing meal service within the SFA, and that the minimum required food quantities for all meal components are available to students in every serving line. The letter of attestation must be submitted each year until SY 2014-15

All forms and documents can be found on our website.

It is important to note that the USDA menu worksheets and USDA simplified nutrient analysis tools must be submitted electronically by email or a flash drive/disk containing the information sent via standard mail. The letter of attestation, menus and nutrient analysis using existing software may be submitted in paper.

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