Weekly School Nutrition Newsletter

Indiana Department of Education sent this bulletin at 12/05/2019 04:05 PM EST

12/5/2019

Dear Food Service Contact,

This email provides news for schools concerning the Child Nutrition Programs from the USDA and the Indiana Department of Education (IDOE). 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.

Verification Summary Report Reminders

Sponsors can access the Verification Summary Report (VSR) once their Annual Financial Report (AFR) and October claim have been submitted and approved.
Locate the VSR in the CNPweb, under the Claims/AFR tab in Program Year 2020.

Section 1

The total enrollment listed in this field comes directly from the October claim, specifically from the total enrolled students listed in the eligibility section.
If this amount is incorrect, sponsors need to revise their October claim.

Section 2

Only those that implement the Community Eligibility Provision (CEP) or another provision will need to complete this section. Students reported in this section will not be reported in any other section of the report.

Section 3

Please read this section carefully, USDA pays close attention to these numbers.
This is where all Direct Certified (DC) students (on October 31) are reported.
USDA requires sponsors to report how students were determined to be Direct Certified.
- 3-2 - Report all students DC free due to SNAP (Food Stamps).
- 3-3 - Report all students DC free due to TANF, Medicaid Free (M), Foster, Homeless, Runaway, Migrant, and Head Start.
- 3-4 - Report all DC students due to an official SNAP letter being submitted because students could not be found in DC (this is not common).
- 3-5 - Report all students DC for reduced meals due to Medicaid (R).

Section 4

This is where all approved applications on October 1 (column A) and the students on those applications on October 31 (column B) are reported.
Any student or household found on Direct Certification before October 1 will not be recorded in this section.
Any student or household found on Direct Certification between October 1 and 31 will be reported in column A, but not column B.

T-1 and T-2

This section is automatically calculated by adding the numbers entered into section 3 and section 4 (column B). To make sure this number is correct, check your October claim to make sure students are not double-reported or left off of the report.

Section 5

This is where verification results are reported.
The mandated size for verification (field above 5-5) must match with the number of applications pulled for the verification sample (5-5). If this is off, check the applications reported in column A of section 4. The system calculates the verification sample by adding the total amount of applications and multiplying by a particular percentage, depending on the verification method selected, and then rounding up.
Direct Verification is verifying an application without contacting the household. This is conducted in the same system that Direct Certification takes place. Any application Direct Verified will only be reported in 5-7. If no applications were Direct Verified, check box 5-6 and skip to 5-8.

Section 6

Any questionable applications verified for cause up through November 15 must be reported in this section. Then the results should be added in 5-7 or 5-8, whichever is applicable.
Do not include any application randomly pulled for the normal verification process.
If no questionable applications were verified, enter N/A in 6-1.

Final Notes

In-depth instructions, a sample worksheet, PowerPoint, and fact sheets are available on this page.
A recorded webinar on the Verification Summary Report can be found on inTEAM.
Questions? Contact Allie Caito-Sipe at acaito@doe.in.gov or your field specialist.

Food Distribution Program News

Romaine Lettuce Recall

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA), along with Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and state and local agencies, issued a public health alert advising consumers not to eat any romaine lettuce harvested from the Salinas, California growing region due to illnesses caused by E. coli O157:H7.
CDC and FDA are advising that if a product label indicates that the romaine lettuce was grown in "Salinas" (whether alone or with the name of another location) do not eat it.
If you do not know the source of your romaine lettuce, the harvest region, or it does not indicate that it has been grown indoors (hydroponically- and greenhouse-grown), and you cannot obtain that information from your vendor, you should not serve the product and dispose of it.
If you still have romaine lettuce in your inventory from the Salinas, California growing region, please dispose of it and clean the area where it was stored.
The DoD Defense Logistics Agency (DLA) is in communication with all vendors participating in the USDA DoD Fresh Program regarding this matter.
If you have questions please feel free to contact us at USDADoDFresh@usda.gov.

Feedback Requested

Please click here to complete a short survey regarding bonus USDA Foods.

Grow and Tell

October was National Farm to School Month, and IDOE wants to thank you for celebrating Indiana Food Day!
To help with future Indiana Food Day funding, and to share Food Day success stories with dietitians and other thought leaders nationwide, please tell your story here.
For more information on Farm to School, click here.

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

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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 Ashley Heller at aheller@doe.in.gov, call (317) 232-0544, or toll-free at 1-800-537-1142 ext. 20544.

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