The Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP) is a federal program that provides reimbursements for nutritious meals and snacks to eligible children and adults who are enrolled for care at participating child care centers, day care homes, and adult day care centers.
Due to the COVID-19 outbreak, some agencies might have flexibilities during this time to allow for additional funding.
The Child and Adult Care Food Program is a meal-based reimbursement program and is governed under 7 CFR 226. Funding is only available for meals that are served in the program.
If your meal service is different than before COVID-19 closures, are required to submit a Meal Distribution Plan (MDP) to your program specialist.
Submit a MDP if your organization is doing any of the following:
- Serving meals in a 'Grab & Go' style.
- Serving meals 'Grocery' style.
- Serving meals in a manner different than before the COVID-19 outbreak.
This documentation will be reviewed in upcoming Administrative Reviews and could have financial impact if it is not received.
Reminder:
If you are closed, you do not need to submit a MDP. Please reach out to your specialist to let them know you are closed and when you expect to re-open (if you have that information). Your program specialist must approve any changes in your calendar prior to re-opening.
Recently, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) released three (3) policy memos related to the Child and Adult Care Food Program.
- SP 15, CACFP 09, SFSP 08-2020 - Child Nutrition Program Meal Service During Novel Coronavirus Outbreaks: Q&A #4
- This memo reviews common questions regarding meal service during the COVID-19 outbreak.
- COVID-19: Child Nutrition Response #13 - Nationwide Waiver to Allow Meal Pattern Flexibility in the Child Nutrition Programs - EXTENSION
- This memo extends meal pattern flexibilities through May 31, 2020.
OSPI Child Nutrition Services is reviewing these memos. Additional information will be released as procedures are put into place.
Questions? Please contact your program specialist.
During last week's COVID-19 Update call, we shared some information that was incorrect. Please review this important information:
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Food may be distributed for one week or 7 days not 10 days
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Infant Daily Records are not required but a menu of what will be distributed to infants must be kept .
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If you are closed, you do not need to submit a Meal Distribution Plan (MDP). Please reach out to your specialist to let them know you are closed and when you expect to re-open (if you have that information). Your program specialist must approve any changes in your calendar prior to re-opening.
Serving Meals to Children 0-11 months?
Infants have special dietary needs that need to be considered when serving meals as part of the Child Nutrition Programs.
If you indicated that your organization is serving infants during the COVID-19 unexpected closures, you are required to meet infant meal pattern requirements. Please join us for an important webinar on infant meal pattern and 'grab & go' service when serving infants.
Register Here
Date: Today, April 27, 2020 Time: 1:30 - 2:30pm PT
Last week, we sent emails directly to sponsors who indicated that they were serving infants. If you already responded to our emails and indicated you are not, after all, serving infant meals, please disregard this message.
This webinar will be recorded and shared at a later time.
CACFP Operational Resources and Education (CORE) is a USDA FNS-funded initiative. This training is designed to provide practical training solutions for CACFP sponsors. Three training courses are now available online.
Each session is 2 hours long and goes over many core topics of operating CACFP.
Is this training required?
This training is not required as part of the CACFP and should be considered supplemental.
To get started:
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Select this link and create a new account (or sign in if you already have an account).
- Once you have verified your account and can sign in, go to the course catalog and select Financial Viability (CORE 800) and enter the passcode “CORE”.
- Complete each step of the course, downloading any guides or handouts you may need.
- Complete the Quiz with an 80% or higher to move on to the next course.
- Complete the second training course; go to the course catalog and select Monitoring and Oversight (CORE 810) and enter the passcode “CORE”.
- Repeat steps 3 & 4 for this course.
- Complete the second training course; go to the course catalog and select Serious Deficiency (CORE 820) and enter the passcode “CORE”.
- Repeat steps 3 & 4 for this course.
We have extended this meeting one more week - Join us on April 28 and May 5!
As the COVID-19 outbreak continues, operations and guidance is frequently changing. To assist with your questions and to share important information, we are continuing our weekly webinars that are held on Tuesday afternoons.
Register Here
Please keep an eye out for future CNS Updates for any changes.
Register now to attend free, LIVE, interactive food safety training sessions for child nutrition professionals.
You can attend the following sessions led by the Institute of Child Nutrition (ICN) trainers during April, May, and early June, 2020.
- Food Safety Basics
- Norovirus for Child Care
- Food Safety in Child Care
For more details and equipment requirements for this training, visit the ICN Virtual Training webpage.
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