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NDDPI is holding a new 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, January 9th, from 2:00-3:00 p.m. CST. The agenda will include:
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Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Program – Requirements and Best Practices
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After School Snack Program – Requirements and Best Practices
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Verification Summaries/Free and Reduced Numbers
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Procurement Best Practices for 24-25
This webinar will be recorded and posted on our website after the event.
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Master the Menu now available in Spanish!
The Spanish version of our Meal Pattern Breakdown course is now available on the North Dakota Educational Hub! School Nutrition Staff that complete the 8-hour course will be eligible to receive a $100 incentive (if haven’t already taken the course). Communication has been made to those who previously stated interest in the Spanish version of this course.
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Spots remain for the 8-hour track 'Meal Pattern Breakdown' for a $100 incentive bonus. If you are interested in taking part (English or Spanish), please register here: Master The Menu: North Dakota's Team Nutrition Training Grant Registration (office.com). This track is geared towards any food service staff member who needs to know the details of the meal pattern.
- No in-person trainings are scheduled at this time. All training will be completed online via the North Dakota Educational Hub.
- If a need is identified in a specific area of the state, we may schedule an in-person event. Please reach out to Amy or Emily for more information.
If you have questions about this training program, please reach out to Amy Nelson, Project Director, at amylnelson@nd.gov or Emily Karel, Project Coordinator, at ekarel@nd.gov
Has your District had School Nutrition Professionals take part in the Master the Menu training activities?
If so, you are eligible to apply for reimbursement through our Subgrants!
Personnel Reimbursement
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Non-Competitive Grant: to provide reimbursement to the District for personnel expenses paid during participation in Master the Menu Training activities.
- Up to $2,000 per District, based on enrollment. You may include all incurred costs, as additional funds may be reallocated.
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Requests are due no later than March, 29, 2024. district may submit their application following the completion of training or when all costs are expended.
 This month, Harvest of the Month is celebrating North Dakota wheat. There are many ways to incorporate wheat into your school menu, at home, or even in the classroom. Did you know that North Dakota was ranked number 1 in wheat production in the US in 2022? North Dakota produced almost 300 million bushels in 2022. Kansas was ranked number 2 in production. North Dakota is nicknamed the “bread basket” of the United States for a reason.
Local Beef Survey
We want your thoughts, concerns, and questions about North Dakota beef. We have a survey that is currently collecting your responses. Please fill it out by February 1. The survey will take about 10 minutes. We will be giving away a basket of goodies to one lucky recipient. The basket includes items from various organizations (snacks, mugs, and lots more) and can be shared amongst food service workers. One person from your school must submit the survey to be eligible for the drawing happening on February 5.
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Questions on Farm to School?
As Farm to School keeps growing and expanding, we will do a webinar series between February and March (depending on the number of submitted questions). Please email Amanda Olson your top questions so the webinar series can be tailored to your questions about North Dakota Farm to School. These sessions will be held live, and the recording will be posted. The sessions will be 30 minutes long, with 15 minutes for discussion. Please contact Amanda Olson (amolson@nd.gov) with topics you want covered by January 25.
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For those of you who have completed the 2023 USDA Farm to School Census, a drawing will be held on January 4.
3 basket winners will be drawn, and Amanda Olson will contact the winners. We will share pictures of the winners in the February newsletter.
Menu Writing While Utilizing USDA Foods (Commodities)
We will be joined by Tara Koster, USDA Food Distribution Specialist to review the Annual Survey process and hear about the new products available this year. We then will discuss how to stretch your dollar by incorporating USDA Foods in your menu. Menu writing tips & tricks will be shared, as well as encouragement to start planning your 24-25 SY menu!
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.
The Department of Health and Human Services sent a notice out regarding the adoption of the 2017 Food Code. If you are interested in reading the full Food Code to find out if your hair restraints are okay (section 2-402) or if you can start using sour cream or old Mrs Gerry’s salad containers to store food leftovers (this is still a ‘No’ at 4-102), find a link to it here:
https://www.hhs.nd.gov/health/food-and-lodging/food-and-beverage-establishments
Remember that the USDA school meal programs have further requirements for food safety!
- All Kitchen managers MUST have proof of an 8 hour sanitation training. Documentation of this training must be submitted to the NDDPI-CNFD office within 30 days of hire.
- The 8 hour training certificate is good for 5 years at which time an update is needed. The update must be at least 3 hours on food safety issues.
- All school kitchens must maintain and follow their HACCP (food plan to mitigate food safety hazards).
If you need to submit your sanitation certification or have questions about food safety in schools, please contact the office at dpicnfd@nd.gov
Allowing students to take more than one 1/2 cup of juice at breakfast.
Yes, in most cases, this will require corrective action for the following reasons:
- The weekly juice limit will be exceeded in most cases. Remember there is a rule that states, ‘no more than half of the weekly fruit component may be offered as juice’. (See this on the ‘Meal Pattern’ list in either the Breakfast or Lunch Production Record book.) This rule exists because juice lacks dietary fiber and, when consumed in excess, can contribute extra calories.
- When the menu planner allows seconds on any food item, including juice or a second corn dog, the calories, fat and sodium of those second items must be added into the weekly calorie, fat and sodium averages. In most cases, seconds will put the menu over these dietary specifications.
- Federal reimbursement is designed to cover only the ‘menued’ items for the specific meal pattern, i.e. the breakfast meal pattern for K-12 is at least 1 ounce grain, 1 cup of fruit and 1 cup of milk offered each day. Exceeding the requirements each day may cause a deficit in the school foodservice account because reimbursement does not cover the extra food.
- Giving food away purchased through the school food service account is an unallowable expense. Allowing seconds that are unplanned in the menu is technically giving food away.
- Exception: There are always exceptions to rules so here are the exceptions.
- The juice limit is applied to the weekly menu. Therefore, if a school serves larger amounts of fruit, then the weekly juice limit also increases.
- Some schools do not offer juice every day. This may allow them to offer an extra juice cup on the days they are offering juice.
- Meal modifications signed by a doctor may specify juice.
Corrective Action required:
The school is required to post signage that clearly states what a reimbursable meal is. This might be in the form of a sign by the fruit that makes the student aware that they must choose at least ½ cup of fruit from the choices. If the choices are ½ cup fruit sauce and ½ cup fruit juice to meet the 1 cup requirement, the sign might say, ‘You may take 1 of each’.
For schools that want to allow students to select more food items than are menued, a price should be set for these items. Extra items that are purchased by a student are not added into the calories, fat and sodium menu averages.
This time of year is a great time to start planning for the 24-25 SY, as you start to figure out your cycle menu and filling out your Annual Survey for USDA Foods. Freshen your menu with these tips and new recipes:
Chef Sam (Samantha Cowens-Gasbarro, SNS) has a passion for developing K12 recipes and resources. She and a team of culinary and school nutrition experts also gather recipes from other schools and K12 partners to share on the Healthy School Recipes website.
Chef Ann Foundation has developed a new digital platform, Scratch Cooking Assessment & Learning Evaluation (SCALE), that is free for schools nationwide. Food service directors input their program data and specifics, and SCALE generates a customized assessment to help increase scratch cooking, including linked resources, section scores, recommendations, and supporting research.
Users can take the assessment at their own pace and will have immediate access to the generated report. The assessment can be taken annually and will allow users to compare progress to previous years. As SCALE evolves, users will also receive recommendations of peer/mentor districts based on scores and proximity.
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Based on Chef Ann Foundation’s 5 Key Areas, plus a special focus on scratch cooking components, content areas focus on a variety of topics:
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Food: menu cycles, procurement, reporting
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Scratch Cooking: ingredients, processed elements
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Finances: budgets, revenue/deficit, labor cost
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Facilities: equipment, production, storage
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Human Resources: personnel, professional development
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Marketing: communication channels, lunchroom education activities
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To learn more about SCALE from Chef Ann Foundation, watch a video demo or webinar, check out the website here: The Lunch Box | SCALE
You just changed your calendar over to 2024, now it's time to pencil in the NDDPI Child Nutrition & Food Distribution Back To School Workshop!
- Fargo - July 30 and 31
- Bismarck - August 6 and 7
- Minot - August 8
An agenda will be released with our registration to assist with planning.
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