Thank you to all the schools that celebrated National School Breakfast Week from March 4-8! We received festive pictures from schools around North Dakota - if you would like to see them, check them out below:
Bring on summer! Applications for the Summer Food Service Program are currently open in NDFoods and will close April 30. If your school participated last year and is interested in applying for the program again, please log into NDFoods and use the “SFSP renewal” link in the work queue to start the process. If your school did not participate last year, but wants to participate this summer, please contact our office for assistance. To find out if your school is eligible and current meal reimbursement rates, check out the 2024 SFSP Site Eligibility List and the 2024 SFSP Reimbursement Rates which are both published on the NDDPI website. Training links and program forms will be updated on the website in April. Outreach and program materials like posters, yard signs, “And Justice for All” posters and SFSP program handbooks will be made available to those sponsors once applications are approved.
If your school is interested in participating in SFSP this summer, please reach out to mdanderson@nd.gov with any questions or guidance on how to apply.
We are happy to provide, upon request, certificates for 10 years of service and for every 5-year interval after that. We also provide awards upon retirement at the request of the school district.
These are quality certificates of appreciation signed by our Director Linda Schloer and NDDPI Superintendent Kirsten Baesler.
If you would like years of service certificates for eligible school foodservice employees, please complete the Years of Service Request form and return it to our office either by e-mail to vlsilva@nd.gov or fax (328-9566) no later than Friday, April 19, 2024. Please check your staff list now and submit your requests as soon as possible to ensure early delivery.
Certificates will be mailed out no later than Thursday, April 25th. Please check the certificates and immediately notify our office if there are any discrepancies. It is suggested that the certificates be presented to your foodservice personnel on School Lunch Hero Day, Friday, May 3, 2024, or during School Nutrition Employee Week, April 29-May 3, 2024.
Should you have questions about the Years of Service Awards, please call Victoria Silva at 328-2294 or toll-free at 1-888-338-3663.
Honor your staff during the School Nutrition Employee Week (April 29 - May 3) can be found on the School Nutrition Association (SNA) website at https://schoolnutrition.org/event/2024-school-lunch-hero-day/ . School Lunch Hero Day will be held on May 3, 2024.
Cool Tropics needs your photos AND videos of the School Lunch Heros serving up great food to students. Check out their ‘Cool Tropics School Lunch Hero Appreciation 2023’ video to get an idea of what they are looking for and maybe some inspiration for your fun ‘School Food Rocks’ celebration. If nothing else, you will get a kick out of the music! Here’s the video: Cool Tropics School Lunch Hero Appreciation 2023 on Vimeo
Send your photos or videos to: amyt@cool-tropics.com with the Subject line: School Lunch Hero Media Request. We would love to see you in action too! Cc: dpicnfd@nd.gov
NDDPI is holding the quarterly webinar “Across the Desk”, intended for Food Service Directors, Recordkeepers, or Business Managers who handle administrative tasks for School Nutrition Programs. The next webinar will be held on Tuesday, April 9th, from 2:00-3:00 p.m. CST. We have a packed hour planned with all the things you need to know to finish out the school year and plan for next year. The agenda will include:
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Summer Programs – SFSP and Summer EBT
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School Lunch Hero Day
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End-of-the-year reminders for kitchens – Inventory and Records Management
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Charging for second servings or extra meals, the Nonprogram Revenue Tool and Excess Funds Calculations.
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Common Findings on Reviews
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Upcoming Training and Events for school nutrition staff
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Procurement Requirements for Schools
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Continuation of ND Extended Eligibility Guidelines
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New Direct Certification and Medicaid demonstration project.
April is here, wow! It is hard to believe it, but Spring is here.
This Harvest of the Month features soybeans. And you’re in luck; the featured topic for Kitchen Counter Conversations on Tuesday, April 16, is All About Soy!
North Dakota Soybean Council has graciously helped with sharing great resources and topics for this month, and you will notice their new logo on April’s Harvest of the Month poster.
Go ahead and put “Soy on Your Plate”. It’s easy to do, as soybeans and their bi-products are easy to fit into any recipe.
“Soy protein provides all the essential amino acids in the amounts needed by the body to make protein. Soy protein also includes additional nutrients, such as folate, potassium and fiber. Soy protein is the only plant protein comparable in quality to animal protein. Speaking of animal protein, U.S. soybean producers provide the animal agriculture industry with a consistent and reliable source of protein for feed — so soy contributes to tasty meat-based dishes as well.” ~North Dakota Soybean Council
Farm to School Resources:
Nourish Colorado: Colorado Local Food Program Guidebook
A new resource has been developed in Colorado. It’s supported by Nourish Colorado, a local food development organization with partners like the Colorado Department of Education. The new guidebook is ready to use. The link below showcases videos for cooking, preparing, learning new skills and recipes with fresh ingredients. Check them out!
School Gardens and Sowing Your Success from Garden to Cafeteria
Nothing says spring like being able to get out to the garden and start planting, whether at school, in your community, or at your home. Resources are available to learn how garden produce can be used in child nutrition programs. Please contact Amanda Olson if you have questions about school gardens and using the produce in your menu next school year.
As you’re thinking about the 2024-2025 school year, it’s a good time to refresh your skills in procurement knowledge. We have great resources about procurement guidelines. Don’t forget to check out our website. Also, check out the NDSU Extension 'Guide for Buying and Selling Local Foods' resource HERE.
USDA Announces Grant Funding and Resources Available for Local and Regional Food Systems Development
The USDA Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) recently announced the availability of approximately $26 million for the Local Agriculture Market Program (LAMP) to help local and regional food entities develop, coordinate, and expand producer-to-consumer marketing, local and regional food markets and local food enterprises. A LAMP Stakeholder Toolkit is available to help organizations amplify funding available through the Fiscal Year 2024 LAMP. AMS invites applications by May 14, 2024 under three programs:
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Farmers Market Promotion Program supports producer-to-consumer markets such as farmers' markets, roadside stands, agritourism activities, community-supported agriculture programs, and online sales.
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Local Food Promotion Program supports local and regional food business enterprises that engage as intermediaries in indirect producer-to-consumer marketing.
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Regional Food Systems Partnerships supports public-private partnerships that build and strengthen viability and resilience of local or regional food economies.
North Dakota Department of Public Instruction Farm to School Webinar Series 2024 Recordings Available!
This Farm to School webinar series hosted by Amanda Olson, Farm to School Specialist in the CNFD office, along with featured speakers from NDDPI and the North Dakota Department of Agriculture.
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This 5-part series was held in March and focused on various topics in Farm to School, including procurement, ND local foods directory, Local Wellness Policy, grants, resources, and idea sharing. The links are NOW available on our website: Farm to Child Nutrition Website.
If you would like the slide deck, please contact Amanda Olson at amolson@nd.gov
All About Soy
We will hear from a Guest Speaker - Linda Funk representing the ND Soybean Council. She will provide us with education related to all things Soy: soy foods health benefits, easy applications to your school food service and more.
This is a Microsoft Teams meeting, please use the link below to join the meeting.
Join on your computer or mobile app
Click here to join the meeting
As always, this webinar will be recorded and posted to our website (UPDATES | North Dakota Department of Public Instruction (nd.gov)) if you are unable to attend live.
FOLLOW UP: As mentioned during our March KCC - Beans, Beans the Challenging Subgroup, we were unable to post the quantity recipes while we were presenting, so here it is: Quantity Recipes including Legumes
Have fun trying some new recipes!
Seconds
Second portions of menu items are planned and offered as a normal part of the meal service, not just a few leftovers that will be discarded at the end of service. This practice may be a continuation from a past kitchen manager who was gratified by seeing students eating school food OR may be a mandate from administration or the school board who want to ensure that no child is going hungry.
There are several reasons that this practice will yield a “Finding” and require corrective action to mitigate.
- Offering ‘seconds’ every day will make most menus noncompliant with the meal pattern requirements of total calories, saturated fat, and sodium as set forth in the Healthy Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010.
- This practice also negatively impacts the school food service account.
As stated in USDA Memo SP05-2022, “Schools may offer a variety of meals with different calorie levels to meet the needs of students or allow students to take second servings of some foods (if it fits within the operational budget). Second portions must be included in a nutrition analysis to assess compliance with the weekly dietary specifications.”
As a reminder, these are the dietary specifications for a five-day week, School Year 2023-2024:
The food service director/menu planner must count calories, saturated fat, and sodium for all the food items offered to get a weekly average for each, including all condiments offered with breads and salads. There may be a day or two during a week that a second piece of bread with peanut butter and jelly can be offered but it is highly unlikely that two portions of every entrée offered over the week will fit into those dietary specifications.
Seconds that do not fit into the meal pattern dietary specifications must be tracked and reimbursed to the School Food Service Account. When seconds are paid for by the student or another nonfederal source, the calories, sodium, and saturated fat specifications become the student's decision rather than the menu planner.
The ‘reimbursement’ can be accomplished by setting a charge for students to pay or by a transaction from the General Fund. The suggested price for a second entrée at breakfast is $.75 and $1.50 at lunch.
Procurement Pieces and Parts
Reminder to those opting into the NDESC’s School Food Service bid – make sure that you have let the staff at Cooperative Purchasing Connection (CPC) know of your intention to participate in the Direct-to-Manufacturer (DTM) bid! Several procurement reviews this year revealed that the school ‘thought’ they were participating as they had in the past but there was no paperwork from NDESC or CPC or even the food distributor that a solicitation was made on their behalf. Please do not be in the ‘OOPS’ category this year. Contact the Coop bid staff at info@purchasingconnection.org or call: 1-866-337-2005.
If your intention is not to participate, make sure that your procurement plans are well on their way to successful implementation for SY 2024-2025! Please let us know if you have any questions.
Food Safety in Schools
New Resource from NDDOH: Guidelines for Single-Service Items
The ND Department of Health has guidelines on preventing mistakes when single service items. While these are not new rules for Food Safety, there have been many schools and other commercial food service establishments violating the requirements for single service items. We encourage schools to stay updated on these guidelines and follow the protocols in the NDDOH guidelines. NDDOH Guidelines for Single-Service Items Resource
Request a second inspection if one has not been completed yet.
Spring food safety inspections are rapidly wrapping up. If you have not had your second review for the school year, please make sure to contact your health inspector to see that you are on the schedule. North Dakota has had a great track record of reporting twice-inspected school nutrition program sites to the USDA.
Excess Funds Calculation will remain the same for SY23-24
The extra 25% allowed for the ending balance of the school food service fund balance will be allowed for this school year once again as schools received another unanticipated check for Supply Chain Assistance (SCA). As the world returns to a more ‘normal’ pace, please plan for a return also to the normal calculation for Excess Funds at the end of School Year 24-25.
Setting Meal Prices for Next Year: Paid Lunch Equity (PLE) SY 2024-2025 announcement
Budgets are being set, procurement activity is underway, and plans for meal pricing in the next school year should be included in these financial activities for food service as well.
The concept of ‘Paid Lunch Equity’ (PLE) has been around since 2011 when the federal government initiated rules for establishing paid lunch prices at a level high enough that reimbursement from free and reduced meals is not used to cover the expenses of paid meals. Find more information on the federal Appropriations Act, of 2024 continued the same guidance for Paid Lunch Equity as for last school year: any SFA with a positive or zero balance in its nonprofit school food service account as of June 30, 2023, is exempt from paid lunch equity pricing requirements found at 7 CFR 210.14(e) for SY 2024-2025.
The CNFD office must maintain documentation of those sponsors who are using this exemption, so you will be asked during the School Nutrition Program renewal process to select “Yes” in the Sponsor Detail to the question “PLE Exemption.” This will open a box below that will ask for the June 30, 2023, School Food Service Fund balance. Please see the example below.
Another ServSafe class to be offered in Dickinson
Needing food safety certification and want to go above and beyond in your training? ServSafe is for you! Another class will be hosted at the Dickinson Southwest District Health Unit meeting room on Tuesday, May 21, 2024. This class is a full 8-hour day, including the proctored exam. It incorporates the latest FDA Food Code changes and practice exams. This is an investment of time and money to ensure you have the most useful and constructive knowledge to feed your students and staff safely.
Registration must be done before April 22nd to participate in the Dickinson ServSafe class. Find registration information here: Dickinson ServSafe Registration
Early Bird Registration is now open! Check out the NDSNA website for more information:
Conference (northdakotasna.com)
The conference agenda will be posted soon. Take note the pre-conference options are the initial (8-hour) Sanitation Training OR the Sanitation Update (3-hour).
The CNFD Office hosts the Food Safety in Schools – 8-hour Initial Sanitation Course from ICN each summer, for new Lead Food Service Workers to assist them in fulfilling their 'Initial Sanitation Training' requirement. The requirement includes that within 6 months of employment, they complete an 8 hour Sanitation Course.
The New School Kitchen Manager training will be held from July 24 through July 25 this year. This is in response to feedback and in order to provide a better understanding of USDA Child Nutrition & National School Lunch Program regulations.
We hope you join us for our 2024 Back to School Workshops! We are hosting the same information each day. An agenda is attached to the registration webpage. The EventBrite registration link should be available on our website by April 5 (Scroll down to Workshops - Back to School Workshops): UPDATES | North Dakota Department of Public Instruction (nd.gov)
- Fargo - July 30 OR 31
- Bismarck - August 6 OR 7
- Mandan - August 8
If you have any questions please reach out to our office at dpicnfd@nd.gov.
North Dakota Team Nutrition will be offering the last of our in-person 'Master the Menu' Meal Pattern Breakdown training days will be held in the following areas: Spirit Lake, Fort Berthold, and Turtle Mountain during the last week in May.
Please be on the lookout for a personal invitation for you and your district school nutrition professionals to attend. Participation in the training day will provide seven (7) of the required 8 hours, upon completion of the full 8 hours, attendees will receive a $100 incentive! Schools will also be eligible for personnel reimbursement related to attendance at this in person event.
Total Eclipse of the Sun on April 8th
You can use the hype about the next total eclipse of the sun for nutrition education or interesting menus.
Menu possibilities: Galaxy Pizza or Flying Saucer pizza and Total Eclipse of the Sun beans (black bean salad); Sunshine oranges with Rocket Fuel juice, Dark side of the moon milk.
Other words to incorporate might be ‘cosmic’, ‘solar’, ‘moon and stars’ and ‘out of this world’
Finally, invite the students to wear their sunglasses when they dine with you on Monday, April 8th.
April is also ‘Earth Month’. The eclipse could start a month-long celebration and awareness campaign for kitchen staff and students. A re-emphasis of the share table might go a long way to help in the fight to Reduce-Reuse-Recycle. The North Dakota Department of Health Fact Sheet on Sharing Tables was included on the very last page of the green covered Lunch Production Record book this year. Following the health department’s guidance will ensure that items that can be reused/recycled are not thrown away because of food safety issues.
Other ideas to prevent waste in school meal programs are listed on page 44 of the same Lunch Production Record book.
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