Weekly School Nutrition Newsletter

Indiana Department of Education sent this bulletin at 03/07/2018 03:18 PM EST

March 7, 2018

Dear Food Service Contact,

This email provides the most up-to-date news for schools about the Child Nutrition Programs from USDA and the State. If you are the food service contact for your school or corporation, it is your responsibility to relay important information provided to you about the Child Nutrition Programs to other staff members.

Updated! Calendar of Due Dates

To keep track of all upcoming due dates, print out and/or bookmark the Calendar of Due Dates.

Annual Notification of Summer Meals

Students are hungry during summer break too! Let them know where to go!
All schools participating in USDA School Nutrition Programs must meet the regulatory requirement of providing annual notification to all households regarding the availability of summer meals.
Whether a local school corporation participates in USDA summer meal programs through the Summer Food Service Program, Seamless Summer, regular school meals through the National School Lunch Program, or doesn’t participate in any formal summer meal service, the obligation to inform households where to find meals is required.
Annual notification can be through website announcement, email, flyer, or robocall, but all documentation showing this annual requirement is met must be retained with your school nutrition program records.
Everyone 18 and younger eats for free without providing any individual eligibility information at all open sites. On or after June 1, all Indiana sites approved to serve meals can be found:

On the SFSP parent page
By texting "Summer Meals" to 97779
Or texting “Food” or “Comida” to 877-877
By calling 211

Keep your students well-nourished during the summer months so that they are ready to learn again in the fall. If interested in participating in Summer Food Service Program, contact your field specialist or Tina Skinner at (317) 232-0858.

Annual Pre-Order Survey Reminder

There are still schools that have not responded to the annual pre-order survey under the green puzzle piece in CNPweb. The survey is necessary to secure USDA Foods for school year 2018-19.
As a reminder, the fruits, vegetables and dairy portions close this Friday, March 9 at 4 p.m. Indianapolis time for both raw (pounds) and end products (brown box). Poultry and livestock for both raw and end products on the pre-order survey closes on March 24.
The current list of processing companies for both commodity tracking websites, K12 Foodservice and ProcessorLink is now available. Please click here to view a copy of the list.
The Food Distribution Program publishes the Brown Box to Bulk Newsletter. To view the latest and archived copies of the newsletter, please click here and scroll down to the newsletter section of the webpage.

Indiana Nutrition Newsletter

The Winter 2018 edition of the Indiana Nutrition Newsletter has been posted here.
The newest edition includes:

Southwestern Consolidated School District uses Creative Techniques to Boost Meal Participation
An Uplifting Story of Caring at Elkhart Community Schools
Patricia Urbanczyk is a National School Nutrition Hero
Indiana Food Day 2018 will Focus on Radishes
Team Nutrition Grant Recipients are Recognized

To feature your school or special event in the next newsletter, contact Suzette Hartman at shartman@doe.in.gov.

Missed a Weekly School Nutrition Newsletter? Click here to access previous newsletters!

Please do not reply directly to this email. If you have any questions or concerns regarding this email, please contact Allie Caito-Sipe at acaito@doe.in.gov, call (317)232-0849 or toll-free at 1-800-537-1142 ext. 20849. Or, contact Sarah Kenworthy at skenworthy@doe.in.gov, call (317)232-0857 or toll-free at 1-800-537-1142 ext. 20857.

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