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As of April 2024, USDA released a Final Rule to align meal patterns between programs. We will be discussing these topics more in depth during our training in June. The major changes that impacted the CACFP include:
- Allowing nuts and seeds to credit for the full meats/meat alternate component
- Implementation Date: July 1, 2024
- Changing the limits 'total' sugars to 'added' sugars in breakfast cereal and yogurt
- Implementation Date: Oct. 1, 2025
- Allows meal modification forms to be signed by a licensed healthcare professional and/or registered dietitian.
- Implementation Date: Oct. 1, 2025
Have you updated your enrollment forms/income applications at your facility? This is your reminder that these forms must be updated on an annual basis, otherwise the children cannot be claimed for meals in the CACFP program. Stop what you are doing right now and check all your forms/applications. This continues to be one of our top findings, so let's not let it be a finding by ensuring all children are up-to-date. If you have any questions, please contact us.
If you need a copy of the enrollment form/income application, you can find it here: CACFP Enrollment Form - 2024-2025 Free and Reduced-Price Application
In need of a quick activity?
Print out MyPlate Word Blanks & Coloring Pages for a fun, quick activity!
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Harvest of the Month
February Harvest of the Month is Dairy!
In February, we are celebrating dairy as the Harvest of the Month feature. There are so many delicious and nutritious ways to get your dairy intake. Milk, yogurt, and cheese are my favorites! You can check out some CACFP recipes below to find fun new ways to enjoy dairy.
You can find all Harvest of the Month features here Farm to Child Nutrition | North Dakota Department of Public Instruction
If interested in Harvest of the Month characters for coloring pages or room décor, please contact Amanda Olson amolson@nd.gov
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Children benefit from Farm to ECE activities, such as gardening, farm visits, and taste-testing fresh food from local farms. These types of activities teach children about healthy food and engage all five senses. Additionally, Farm to ECE can increase children's fruit and vegetable intake and willingness to try new fruits and vegetables. This can improve children's diet and wellness.
Farm to ECE activities can help ECE providers serve vegetables and whole fruits to children. Serving these foods aligns with some of the high-impact obesity prevention standards and with the Child and Adult Care Food Program. In addition, Farm to ECE activities can provide children with opportunities to play outside. Increasing physical activity is also an obesity prevention best practice.
Farmers benefit from Farm to ECE by creating more diversified income streams for regional growers.
Communities benefit from Farm to ECE by providing opportunities to build family and community engagement through gardening, gathering food, and visiting farms or food producers' events.
Local Food for Schools and Child Care Program (LFSCC)
Through the Local Food for Schools Cooperative Agreement Program (LFS), USDA will award funds to states for food assistance purchases of domestic local foods for distribution to schools and childcare institutions. This program will strengthen the food system for schools and childcare institutions by helping to build a fair, competitive, and resilient local food chain, and expand local and regional markets with an emphasis on purchasing from historically underserved producers and processors.
North Dakota is planning on applying for this program, and our state would be awarded $869,770 for childcare institutions that are participating in CACFP. To ensure that the program aligns with the needs of local producers and CACFP program operators, we are currently gathering feedback. Your feedback will help guide the creation of this new program, allowing us to better understand the availability, pricing, and types of food products that can be provided. We value your input and encourage your participation in this important process. By collecting this information, we aim to build a solid foundation for a successful program that will benefit local producers, schools, and childcare centers.
- We would like to host an online Q&A session about this program. Please let us know if you’re interested in learning more in the questionnaire linked above.
North Dakota Grants
There will be two (2) grants opening in early 2025. Since they will open after this newsletter, an email will be sent. Otherwise, you can check out the North Dakota Department of Agriculture’s website for more details. Home | North Dakota Department of Agriculture
1. North Dakota Farm to Early Care and Education Coalition Gardening Grant
This grant will be awarded to 10 early childcare and education sites (daycares and preschools) for $400 to use towards supplies for gardens or raised beds. Details and application link coming soon.
2. Farm to School Equipment Grants
The North Dakota Department of Agriculture is planning to open applications for the Fresh from North Dakota Farm to School equipment grants. This grant was made possible by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), Patrick Leahy Farm to School Grant.
To be eligible for grant funds, an applicant must be a North Dakota producer, a North Dakota K-12 school district, or a North Dakota early childcare and education center (for example, daycares, preschools, Head Start). This grant can be used for kitchen equipment and more. Requests must be no less than $1000 and no more than $50,000. More details and an application are coming soon.
Institute of Child Nutrition: CACFP 101 Webinar: Culinary Creativity
Jan. 21, 2025, at 2 p.m. CST.
Discover alternative cooking methods, and how they can transform the menu in your CACFP operation. Learning Objectives include:
- Explore the advantages of alternative cooking methods in the CACFP, such as steaming and boiling, baking and roasting, grilling and broiling, and slow cooking.
- Identify how to incorporate alternative cooking methods into CACFP menu planning.
This webinar is free for all attendees.
Register HERE: ICN iLearn
National CACFP Association's Around the World: Cultural Food Resources
Jan. 30, at 1:00 - 1:30 p.m. CST.
Explore ways to bring diverse flavors to your CACFP menus. Join NCA as they discuss the value of offering culturally inclusive meals and learn practical strategies for adapting menus to accommodate diverse tastes and traditions.
This webinar is free for all attendees.
Register HERE: Around the World: Cultural Food Resources Event Calendar - National CACFP Sponsors Association
Resources
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Be sure to be signed up for the USDA Team Nutrition updates 'The CACFP Scoop', in which a newsletter is sent out routinely: The CACFP Scoop - Reducing Added Sugars
- To get ahead on your understanding of the change in terminology for the meal pattern update of limits to 'added' sugar, USDA has released the following resources:
Memos
USDA recently released policy guidance and Q&A's to help the State Agencies and Operators.
CACFP 01-2025: Nutrition Requirements for Fluid Milk and Fluid Milk Substitutions in the Child and Adult Care Food Program, Questions and Answers
- This memo details the nutrition requirements for fluid milk and fluid milk substitutes
in the CACFP and includes a series of frequently asked questions and answers. This memo supersedes past versions.
- Read the memo here.
CACFP 02-2025: Offer Versus Serve and Family Style Meals in the Child and Adult Care Food Program
- The purpose of this memorandum is to outline the use of Offer Versus Serve (OVS) in the at-risk afterschool setting, as well as the use of family style meals in the CACFP.
- Read the memo here.
CACFP 03-2025: Substituting Vegetables for Grains in American Samoa, Guam, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and Tribal Communities
- This memorandum clarifies longstanding Program regulations and provides updated
guidance on the use of vegetables as a substitution for grains, including whole grain-rich products, in eligible areas, as described in Program regulations.
- Read the memo here.
CACFP 04-2025: Guidance for accepting Processed Product Documentation for Meal Pattern Requirements
CACFP05: Grain requirements in the CACFP; Q&A
- The purpose of this memo is to provide updated guidance on the provisions of the 2024 final rule that apply to the grains requirements in the CACFP which include adding a definition for whole grain-rich into CACFP regulations; changing product-based limits for breakfast cereals and yogurts from total sugars to added sugars; and updating guidance on substituting vegetables to meet the grains requirements for eligible Program operators.
- Read the memo here.
CACFP06: Feeding Infants and Meal Pattern Requirements in the CACFP; Q&A
- The purpose of this memorandum is to provide recommendations on infant feeding and infant meal pattern requirements in the CACFP based on recommendations from the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) and guidance from the 2020-2025 Dietary Guidelines for Americans (DGAs).
- Read the memo here.
CACFP, 07-2025 Requirement to Accept Medical Statements from Registered Dietitians for Schools and Child and Adult Care Institutions and Facilities.
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