BACK TO SCHOOL WORKSHOP SUCCESS!
We had a wonderful time seeing you all during our Back To School Workshops (BTSW) in Fargo, Bismarck & Minot!
Our attendance was OVER 500 between all five of our event days. Thank you to all of those that attended. If you were not able to make it, the resources supplied will be sent out to your district, when able.
We are also working on the recordings from the event and will have them available soon.
Are you on Facebook? A page was created for North Dakota School Kitchen Staff…an opportunity to share ideas/happenings at your school, ask questions and promote events. You can find it by searching: “North Dakota Kitchen Nutritional Staff”. This is a “group” page, so you have to request to join. Please allow a day or so for your request to be accepted.
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Many kitchens take the summer to wash walls, ceilings and the nooks and crannies behind big equipment. As you get started this fall, take this checklist to make sure that the appropriate signage is posted for staff and/or students.
National School Lunch Program/School Breakfast Programs requirements: (contact NDDPI-CNFD if you need a new copy of these.)
- And Justice for All” poster – newest version is green, black and white with a picture of the Justice Department building on top.
- Reimbursable meal requirement, if implementing offer vs serve – at a minimum signage should show required components for each meal, the number of full components that must be taken and that one must be at least ½ cup fruit or vegetable. New, laminated posters with reimbursable meal signage will be part of the Resources handed out at Back to School Workshops. If someone from your school is not attending one of the locations, we will be mailing them later.
- Copy of the latest health inspection posted in a place where the public can read it.
Requirements of the ND Food Code:
- A poster that notifies Food Employees to wash their hands posted at all designated hand sinks.
- Signage that outlines the Manual Dishwashing Procedure posted above the 3-compartment sink.
Meal Pattern for 2021-22 School Year - Back to NSLP
In the 2021-2022 school year, we will be back to following the NSLP/SBP Meal Pattern, while on SSO (Seamless Summer Option). This means back to all grains being whole grain rich & vegetable subgroups (amid other meal pattern requirements for serving sizes based on age groups!). The NSLP/SBP meal pattern emphasizes healthy eating, with a focus on fruits and vegetables, whole grains, and sensible calorie levels. Although you may hear about meal pattern flexibility waivers for milk, whole grains, and sodium for this 21-22 school year – these are not blanket waivers, instead they are to be only used if needed and requested on a case-by case basis. Each request must be submitted to NDDPI individually and will be granted on a case-by-case basis.
*Schools can follow the meal pattern flexibilities for sodium flexibilities, as this is related to schools likely still relying on pre-packaged, grab-and-go foods to provide a safe meal service. (This should have already been “checked” for you, while your School’s program Agreement was being filled out in NDFoods).
If you are in need of a refresher of your vegetable subgroups, you can review them here:
  For more information about each vegetable and how it credits to your menu, visit the USDA Food Buying Guide or for additional vegetable varieties, check out USDA MyPlate!
National School Lunch Program Meal Pattern (azureedge.net)
Breakfast Meal Pattern (azureedge.net)
Paid Lunch Equity: School Year 2021-2022 Lunch Pricing Calculations and PLE Tool
Regulations at 7 CFR 210.14(e) require school food authorities (SFAs) participating in the National School Lunch Program to ensure sufficient funds are provided to the school food service account for meals served to students not eligible for free or reduced-price meals. There are two ways to meet this requirement: either through the prices charged for “paid” meals or through other non-Federal sources such as the general fund.
SFAs that choose to contribute non-Federal sources to the nonprofit school food service account in lieu of raising paid lunch prices must calculate the appropriate amount to contribute. To determine the amount of required revenue in lieu of a paid lunch price increase, the SFA determines the total number of paid reimbursable lunches claimed for the previous school year and multiplies that by the difference between the SY 2020-21 weighted average paid lunch price requirement and the actual SY 2020-21 weighted average paid lunch price.
There is an option to ask for a PLE exemption if you had a positive food service balance on December 31, 2020 and do not want to increase prices. Write to degeland@nd.gov
This memorandum provides guidance on the calculations SFAs must make in order to ensure they are in compliance with these requirements for School Year (SY) 2021-22. In addition, attached is the SY 2021-22 Paid Lunch Equity (PLE) Tool to assist SFAs as they make these required calculations.
SY 2021-22 Paid Lunch Equity Calculations
For SY 2021-22, SFAs which, on a weighted average, charged less than $3.18 for paid lunches in SY 2020-21 are required to adjust their weighted average lunch price or add non-Federal funds to the school food service account. The amount per meal increase will be calculated using 2 percent rate increase plus the Consumer Price Index (2.93 percent), totaling 4.93 percent.
SFAs are reminded that they must use their unrounded adjusted average paid lunch price requirement from SY 2020-21 when calculating the weighted average lunch price increase for SY 2021-22. For example, if the unrounded SY 2020-21 requirement was $2.28 but the SFA opted to round down to $2.25, the calculation of the SY 2021-22 requirement is based on the $2.28 unrounded SY 2019-20 requirement.
The easiest way to track pricing requirements is to use the PLE tool. The tool will keep track of excess price increases carried forward and of general fund contributions. If you need help with the PLE tool or want an exemption , please call or write Deb Egeland at degeland@nd.gov or 701-391-2884.
As we get back into our school year routine, and back to having students in the cafeteria, remember to get your cashiers set up to be checking for reimbursable meals as the students come through the lunch line (especially when doing OVS (offer vs serve) type meals)!
Although it is acceptable this year to again use meal count tally sheets, our best practice recommendation is to use your point of sale system that you use during typical NSLP years. This will help to promote consistency from previous years as well as for future years. In addition to increase accuracy.
Remember, a reimbursable meal does not need to include everything you are offering for lunch – the students just need (at least) 3 components – and one of those components needs to be ½ cup fruit OR vegetable (or combination).
All schools should have received our resources that we handed out at the Back To School Workshops (BTSW), which included a handy menu document in which you can use to write your menu daily, and shows students what they need to take for a reimbursable meal. It looks like this:
The breakfast meal pattern is slightly different, as students need to take 3 items (not components) and one of those must include a fruit (or veggie, or combination). As seen below:
A reimbursable meal may look like many things, however, here are a few examples:
Make sure your cashier knows what parts of your menus each day count for each meal component. This will help them to ensure the line goes smoothly and prevents delays or congested lines. Cashiers should be trained annually, if you do offer vs serve meal service.
NOTE: The placement of the cashier should be at the end of the food line – as they are checking to make sure that the required meal components are on each student’s tray.
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Another allocation for equipment grants has been released for the coming school year. Please be thinking of ideas to improve school meal service. The selection criteria will consider the following this year:
- The age of the equipment to be replaced or equipment purchase because of lack of appropriate items
- Strategies for adopting lunchroom changes that provide more convenience and appeal to the student
- Opportunities that impact the nutrition and quality of school meals.
Any school district can apply again this year; free/reduced numbers will not be a factor. Any school meal can also be considered, not just breakfast.
North Dakota’s share this year is only $48,735. You will get a higher score with proper procurement and a well written grant submission.
Grant applications will be out in September.
The text/image below is directly from an email we received from the USDA Food and Nutrition Service – We wanted to share this directly with you – as the concise information was a great reminder of water safety considerations when preparing your school for the new school year.
 Legionnaires Disease and Pontiac Fever | CDC
 Back to School Water Safety | USDA-FNS
 Water Emergency - Institute of Child Nutrition (theicn.org)
 Back to School | USDA-FNS
What is North Dakota doing related to water in schools?
The North Dakota Department of Environmental Quality had a grant project this past spring to help schools mitigate any problems with lead in the drinking water. We look forward to the results of this project. A link to ND DEQ’s Lead & Copper Rule page with many resources and a real live contact person’s phone number and email to talk over concerns are located here: Municipal Facilities (nd.gov)
If your school is supplied with water from a private well than there are some requirements for water quality testing to ensure that the water, as a public water system is in compliance with lead and copper levels. The US EPA has a nice information sheet that outlines these sampling requirements: Lead and Copper Rule: A Quick Reference Guide for Schools and Child Care Facilities that are Regulated Under the Safe Drinking Water Act (epa.gov)
One quick reminder for Water in School Meal programs for School Year 2021-22
Participating in any school meal program – breakfast, lunch or snack comes with the requirement to provide free access to ‘potable’ water for the meal. Water cannot be advertised or used as one of the meal components, but students must be able to have water with their meal. This does not come with any requirement to provide a cup for the water BUT good customer service would mean a cup is available.
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In celebration of Farm to School Month, States throughout the Mountain Plains Region (CO, MT, MO, KS, NE, ND, SD, WY) are competing to see which State can get the most “crunches” into a local apple, or other local produce, per capita. |
Register! If you would like to host a Crunch event, register your event here: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/79XXHNM
You must register on the link to be counted so we can win! No reporting after that.
You could use apple slices, cucumber slices, carrots. It could be any time from September 16 to October 15. Any group or business can participate, even individuals.
In schools, it could even be at lunch or the FFVP break so parents do not have to send the crunchy item.
For a complete Crunch Off Tool Kit contact: Deb Egeland: degeland@nd.gov; Rhonda Amundson: rhondaamundson@nd.gov; Kara Haff: khaff@nd.gov
September 16 is Pride of Dakota/Ag in the Classroom School Lunch Day. Serve ND products!
Coming this Fall: Harvest of the Month cafeteria kits featuring North Dakota Crops with Bulletin Board kits, recipes and Ag in the Classroom Calendars featuring student artwork.
Food Allergies in the School Kitchen can be overwhelming. (This could be a full 8-hour+ presentation if we wanted to make it so). With the start of the school year, and new students in your building, you may have different or new allergens that you need to be on the watch for.
If you are looking for some information regarding what to do, how to prevent cross contact, where to identify allergens and more, a good place to start would be with The Institute of Child Nutrition (ICN). They offer multiple learning sessions that help to get a good basis of knowledge around food allergies and how to identify allowable foods. (BONUS: these are free, as long as you have a log in for ICN!)
School Nutrition Programs - Institute of Child Nutrition (theicn.org)
The School Nutrition Association (SNA website), has a GREAT resource center as well as frequently asked questions…you can find it here: Food Allergy Resource Center (schoolnutrition.org)
**If you are a member of SNA, they sometimes offer webinars that discuss food allergies in schools!
The CDC also has a main page for Food Allergies & Schools, which can be found here: Food Allergies | Healthy Schools | CDC
The next websites are links to resources related to schools and food allergies:
FARE (Food Allergy Research & Education) offers even more of a wide variety of food allergy information. They even have a section about Back to School & Childhood Food Allergies
You can check them out here:
If you have not heard yet – we now have a new top allergen – bringing the Top Allergen count to 9!
Sesame has recently been added to the top allergens in the United States.
If you have questions regarding food allergies, be sure to first, talk with the parents/child who has a food allergy to know the specifics regarding their food allergy, talk with Administration and the School Nurse and if you have further questions about how to approach a food allergy in your school kitchen, you can surely reach out to our office.
  
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