The National School Lunch Program is a federally assisted meal program administered by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). It allows children in public and nonprofit private schools and residential child care institutions to receive nutritionally balanced, low-cost or free lunches.
National School Lunch Program participants that opt to participate in the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Foods program may receive approximately 15-20% additional support in the form of USDA Foods that can be used in the preparation of student meals. The value received in USDA Foods is based on the number of meals served during the previous school year.
To be eligible to receive USDA Foods, schools must be approved by the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services (FDACS) for participation in the National School Lunch Program. Private, nonprofit and charter schools in Florida interested in participating in the National School Lunch Program should contact FDACS for information about the program and to file a National School Lunch Program application.
Once approved for the National School Lunch Program by FDACS, the school can choose to receive USDA Foods. That school will then receive entitlement dollars to purchase USDA Foods. The entitlement dollars made available to each Recipient Agency is calculated by multiplying the number of lunches claimed in the previous school year by an established per-meal rate. The per-meal rate is based on a formula defined in Section 6 of the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act and includes an annual adjustment that reflects the three-month average value of the Price Index of Foods Used in Schools and Institutions. It is updated each year in July. This entitlement is issued to states which, in turn, communicate allocations, known as the Planned Assistance Level, to each Recipient Agency according to the number of meals claimed.
USDA Foods are available to child nutrition programs in three ways: direct delivery, USDA Foods Processing, and the USDA Department of Defense Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Program.
Direct delivery items include both unprocessed and minimally processed products, as well as further processed “value-added” items. Unprocessed or minimally processed items include canned or frozen fruits and vegetables, raw ground beef, cut-up chicken and whole-body turkey, roasted pieces and sliced cheese. Value-added products include items like turkey taco meat, roasted chicken pieces and frozen fruit cups. These products are not diverted to processors for further processing.
USDA Foods Processing allows State Distributing Agencies and eligible Recipient Agencies, such as school districts, to contract with commercial food processors to convert raw bulk USDA Foods into more convenient, ready-to-use end products. The Approved Processor List is available in FANS under Download Forms.
USDA and the DoD’s Defense Logistics Agency, which supplies fresh fruits and vegetables to the military, have partnered to increase availability of fresh produce to agencies participating in the USDA Foods Program through the National School Lunch Program. Participating agencies must allocate a portion of their USDA entitlement during the annual ordering period. Ordering and distribution of allocated entitlement dollars are coordinated through the DoD Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Ordering System (FFAVORS).
Schools participating in the USDA Foods program are now required to place their orders in the POINT System instead of the Web-Based Supply Chain Management System.
The POINT System allows users to accurately forecast student participation, develop menus, create a cycle for those menus and project food items needed for the entire school year. The POINT System provides modules that will lead to improvements in program efficiency and a reduction in food costs. Besides the USDA Foods requirement, all other use of the POINT System is voluntary.