USDA Foods from Farm to Plate: Spotlight on Schools, August 2022

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USDA Foods from Farm to Plate
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Spotlight on Schools, August 2022

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Policy Corner

USDA Foods in Schools icon

Value Pass Through Methods for USDA Foods Processed End Products - Refund or Rebate

Under this system, a processor sells end products to the State Distributing Agency (SDA) or school food authority (SFA) at the commercial, or gross, price and must provide a refund or rebate for the value of the USDA Foods contained in or needed to produce the end products. Alternatively, a processor may deliver end products to a commercial distributor for sale to SDAs or SFAs. In both cases, the processor must provide a rebate to the appropriate agency within 30 days of receiving a request for a rebate from that agency.

An SFA diverts USDA Foods, (mozzarella cheese, tomato paste, and flour) to a processor to make pizza. The value of the USDA Foods used to make the pizzas is determined by multiplying the USDA established price per pound by the quantity of USDA Foods contained in or needed to produce each finished case of end product. This price is listed in the FNS approved Summary End Product Data Schedules (SEPDS) and is referred to as the contract value. 

In this example, the value pass through system used is rebate. A commercial distributor is always involved under this system. The contract value of USDA Foods contained in the end product, a 30-pound case of “Double Cheese Pizza” = $17.17.

USDA Foods Mozzarella Cheese 8 lbs. x $1.8467 = $14.77

USDA Foods Tomato Paste 1.38 lbs. x $0.4776 = $0.66

USDA Foods Flour 8.37 lbs. x $2.075 = $1.74

  • The SFA contracted with a distributor to deliver the “Double Cheese Pizza"
  • The commercial price of the “Double Cheese Pizza” is $40.00/case
  • Plus, add the distributor’s fixed fee for storage and delivery $3.00 /case
  • The SFA must send the processor a request for a rebate for the value of USDA Foods/case - $17.17

The processor sends a rebate to the SFA, and reports draw down of pounds on the monthly performance report. If the SFA does not send the processor a request for a rebate, the SFA pays the commercial price for the pizza and the pounds remain in the processor’s inventory.  It is important to submit timely requests for rebate.  

Products sold under this value pass through system begin as commercial sales and are not recognized as sales of end products containing USDA Foods until USDA Foods inventory is confirmed and the rebate is issued. Accordingly, a processor should not reduce inventory at the time of delivery to a commercial distributor. Inventory is drawn down from the appropriate agencies' USDA Foods inventory (also referred to as the agency's bank) when the processor issues the rebate to the SDA or SFA. This inventory draw down constitutes the transfer of title for the USDA Foods from USDA to the eligible recipient. The rebate should be paid according to the value of the USDA Foods contained in or needed to produce the product, which is in effect at the time of payment.


Webinar Round-Up

Webinar

USDA Foods in Schools Supply Chain Webinar Series

USDA FNS hosted a webinar on June 30, 2022, titled:  Understanding the USDA Foods Processing Program: Tips on How to Efficiently and Effectively Utilize USDA Foods Diverted to Processors. This webinar provided an overview of the USDA Foods Processing program and shared some tips on how to effectively manage USDA Foods diverted to processors. The webinar recording can be viewed here.

Next month, on September 8, 2022, from 2:00-3:30pm EDT, USDA FNS will host the next webinar in the USDA Foods in Schools supply chain webinar series, Understanding the USDA DoD Fresh Program and the Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Order Receipt System (FFAVORS). This webinar will provide an overview of USDA DoD Fresh, the new functionalities in FFAVORS, and highlight how USDA DoD Fresh can help schools provide nutritious, high quality fruits and vegetables to students. Attendees do not need to register in advance to attend the webinar. We hope to see you there! 


Resource Round-Up

Affordable Connectivity Program

The Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP) provides eligible low-income households a subsidy of up to $30 per month on internet service plans offered by participating internet service providers and up to $75 per month for eligible households on Tribal lands. Eligible households can also receive a one-time discount of up to $100 to purchase a laptop, desktop computer, or tablet from participating providers if the household contributes more than $10 and less than $50 toward the purchase price. 

Households with income at or below 200% of the poverty level are eligible for the subsidy—about 30 million households, or one in four of all households in the US. However, households are also automatically eligible for the ACP—without the need to prove their income—if at least one member of the household is receiving benefits from certain existing programs administered by USDA, DOE, DOI, HHS, HUD, SSA, and the VA.

The Biden-Harris Administration has secured commitments from many of the nation’s top internet service providers to offer high-speed internet plans to ACP-eligible households for $30 or less, with no other fees and no data caps. ACP-eligible households that choose to pair the ACP subsidy with one of these plans will be able to obtain high-speed internet with no out-of-pocket costs—meaning millions of low-income households will be able to obtain high-speed internet at no cost.


Conference Clips

SNA Logo

School Nutrition Association (SNA) Annual National Conference Recap

The USDA team was excited to see many of our partners at the SNA Annual National Conference in Orlando last month.  We enjoyed engaging in stakeholder discussions and addressing questions at our USDA Foods booth.  USDA staff also had the opportunity to share the latest information about the USDA Foods Database project, entitlement for School Year 2022-2023, and USDA’s efforts to achieve a high fulfillment rate for USDA Foods deliveries despite ongoing supply chain challenges impacting the food industry.  If you have questions about USDA Foods, please contact your State Agency, or you can contact USDA at USDAFoods@usda.gov.  It was great to see so many of you, and we look forward to the next opportunity to connect! 


Technology Synopsis

New Validation Tools and Notification in WBSCM

With the June and July releases, the Web-based Supply Chain Management (WBSCM) system introduced new validation processes to help users avoid data entry errors.

  1. While receipts are submitted, WBSCM will check the total receipted quantity against the expected shipment quantity from the Advanced Shipment Notification and the Purchase Order. If the amount entered is outside of the tolerance range (+/- 10% for most materials), users will be prompted to check their entry and try again or contact the WBSCM Service Desk for assistance if the out-of-tolerance quantity is accurate.
  2. WBSCM will only accept a goods receipt that has a total receipted quantity greater than zero; if the good quantity is zero, then a rejected and/or damaged quantity must be entered. When a user enters zero good quantity, they will be prompted to confirm that they have entered values correctly before submitting.
  3. Sales order transactions will no longer allow the user to select an inactive Ship-To organization. Currently, WBSCM has validations in place for new requisitions and sales orders. With this release, validation will ensure that inactive Ship-To organizations are not added through uploading sales orders, while reviewing and consolidating requisitions, or during FNS’s processes for mass sales order updates and approvals.

Additionally, there is a new email notification to remind users to enter goods receipts. WBSCM customers (Sold-To and Ship-To) will now receive email reminders to enter missing goods receipts for orders that have been reported as delivered by the vendor. Order information for the missing receipts is provided in a consolidated daily email notification.

All monthly changes are documented in the Release Notes, which may be accessed in WBSCM at Help > Training > Release Notes.

Stay tuned for the FNS WBSCM Annual User Validation exercise. Users who have not logged in within the last 9 months will be deactivated. Please log in to WBSCM at your earliest convenience to keep your account active.

For questions about WBSCM, please contact the WBSCM Service Desk or call (877) 927-2648.


How to Stay in the Know with USDA Foods

1. Click here to review or modify your subscription preferences. 

2. Enter your email address and click "Submit."

3. Check the boxes to select your topic(s) of interest. For these e-letters, scroll down to the Food Distribution category and click the plus sign to the left of the check box to expand the list and view all the topics. Select any of these topics to receive the general e-letter plus the corresponding program-specific e-letter(s) of your choice:

*USDA Foods --> receive all "USDA Foods from Farm to Plate" e-letters

*Commodity Supplemental Food Program (CSFP) --> receive "Household Highlights"

*The Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP) --> receive "Household Highlights"

*Food Distribution Program on Indian Reservations (FDPIR) --> receive "FDPIR Connection"

*USDA Foods in Schools --> receive "Spotlight on Schools"

To receive webinar announcements, scroll down to the Webinars category and select your program(s) of interest.

4. Visit the subscriber preferences page any time you would like to review, add, or delete subscriptions. Questions? Contact USDAFoods@usda.gov.

5. Share the e-letter and new subscriber link with interested colleagues and friends!

Learn more at https://www.fns.usda.gov/usda-fis/usda-foods-schools

or contact us at USDAFoods@usda.gov.

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