Summer Times
December 2020 Edition
Live Webinar
January 21, 2021 we will have a live webinar for SFSP sponsors! This webinar will focus on quality meal plans and also help answer questions. If you have questions that you would like to have answered during the webinar, please submit those to your field specialist or to the summermeals@doe.in.gov email account.
Menu Communication
Menu Planning Reminder
Experiencing Poor Participation?
Many sponsors are experiencing low participation this year, while other sponsors have been able to maintain previous year participation levels. One reason could be due to kids being at home instead of at school, but below are some factors to consider.
Meal Quality
Consider the quality of the meals that you provide to households picking up meals. Do planned menus offer a variety of ready to heat and cold items? Do planned menus offer the same quality and quantity of foods that students would experience in the cafeteria? Are menus featuring a variety of fruits and vegetables throughout the week? Are menus planned to entice eaters with color, texture and complimentary flavors? USDA offers a Nutrition Guide for SFSP and it has valuable information on menu planning and the importance of including high quality nutritious foods for your participants.
The Nutrition Guide can be found here.
Distribution Time
Re-evaluate meal distribution times. Perhaps households are unable to come and get meals during the day because children are in class or parents are working. Consider offering meal pick up in the late afternoon or early evening instead of during the workday.
Consider Delivery Options
Many food service operators have partnered with transportation departments and offer meal delivery either directly to homes or to stops closer than the nearest school building. This is a great way to offer some employment to bus drivers who may be working fewer hours than usual.
If considering home delivery, a signed release must be on file allowing for meals to be delivered directly to the household.
Check here under “Meal Service Resources” and then “Door to Door Delivery” for sample consent forms.
Food Safety
Standard Operating Procedures
Food Safety should be a top concern when preparing meals to be sent home. It is critical that each sponsor have Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) developed. Kitchen staff must be trained to implement these procedures during preparation, packaging, and holding for distribution of the meals. Each sponsor should maintain documentation of staff training, including an agenda of topics covered and a staff sign in for proof of attendance.
- IDOE has some SOPs already developed and located on our web site to assist you with this process (Click the drop down for “Employee and Food Safety”) Click Here
- Additional SOPs can be found under Iowa State's extension program. Click Here
Temperature
Whether served or distributed hot or cold, food must maintain proper temperature throughout the preparation, packaging and distribution process. Hot foods must be held at 135 degrees or above and cold food must be held at or below 41 degrees. If proper equipment is not available to maintain food safe temperatures, please adjust meal distribution times to match staff ability. Distributing safely twice a week is better than once a week with questionable practices. If lack of storage facilities is an issue, funds from an IDOE equipment grant or other grant funding streams could be of assistance. Another option could be to rent a refrigerator truck or storage unit to assist in keeping food cold.
Cross-Contamination
A major concern in providing meal packs in bulk distribution is cross contamination. During meal preparation and packaging, be sure that food is individually wrapped to reduce any cross contamination. The image below was provided by a concerned parent to our office. These unwrapped items were packaged with other manufacturer wrapped items.
Instructions
If sending home frozen components that need to be heated, you must provide cooking/reheating instructions. You may need to have both oven and microwave instructions. Keep in mind that students may prepare their own food items so simple and easy to read instructions are best.
Waste Reduction
If households are not consuming all of their meals or are having waste with the meals offered, consider the following:
Offer fewer meals at distribution time. Perhaps households cannot store the amount of food that is being offered. Consider the amount of food given for 2 or 3 children in the household to determine if that could be a burden in a small storage space such as an apartment or small home.
During the distribution process, offer caregivers the option of selecting how many meals they wish to receive. Some households may only want meals for the weekdays and not weekends. Some may be able to provide some meals, but don’t need or want 5 days at a time.
Offer the households the chance to decline meals they do not want. Households may be able to provide cereal for their children to eat for breakfast, but struggle with lunch options. Maybe the household has teenagers who don’t eat breakfast and the food goes to waste. Offering participating households the choice to decline a meal type could reduce waste or food spoilage.
Reimbursement Claims
Follow the link above to the claims instructions. Keep in mind these instructions were written before the CNPweb update, so things may look a little different. If you encounter a claim error, read the claims message.
Common Error #1: The Average Daily Participation (ADP) approved in the site application is lower than the ADP on the claim for total number of meals served.
Fix: As participation fluctuates during the month, site information sheets should be updated to reflect actual participation. This should be done before the end of the month and before submitting a claim for reimbursement. Update the ADP on the site information page where the error has occurred. The easiest way to figure ADP is to divide the total number of meals served by the number of operating days.
Common Error #2: The number of operating days does not match the site information sheet.
Fix: The number of operating days in the claim cannot exceed the number of approved operating days on the site information page. The number of operating days should be the actual number of distribution days, not the number of days for which meals were provided.
Common Error #3: All the site claims are completed, but the claim did not go into “pending approval” status.
Fix: Go back into the sponsor level claim and check the “I certify…” box at the bottom and submit for approval.
Summer Food Service Program
Email: summermeals@doe.in.gov
Website: https://www.doe.in.gov/nutrition/summer-food-service-program
Phone: 317-232-0858