CDE School Nutrition wishes all sponsor organizations and partners a warm and happy holiday season. We thank you for your tireless work combating the challenges of 2020 and look forward to continuing our work together in 2021. The next Dish e-newsletter will be sent on Thursday, Jan. 7.
Under the nationwide non-congregate feeding and parent pick-up waivers, Summer Food Service Program (SFSP) sponsors may provide up to seven days’ worth of meals at one time. During extended school breaks when schools are closed or when there is limited staffing due to COVID-19, SFSP sponsors may be approved to provide more than one week’s (seven days) worth of meals at one time. Sponsors that choose to provide multiple meals at one time must:
Include the required food components in the proper minimum amounts for each reimbursable meal being claimed.
Ensure food items are clearly identifiable as making up reimbursable meals.
Consider whether households have access to refrigeration, stoves, microwaves, etc., when providing food that requires refrigeration or further preparation, such as reheating.
Ensure only minimal preparation is required and that food is not provided as ingredients for recipes that require chopping, mixing, baking, etc.
Sponsors are also strongly encouraged to provide menus with directions indicating items to be used for each meal and the portion sizes.
Additional guidance for providing meals in bulk can be found in the SFSP toolkit and in the USDA tip sheet. Sponsors that would like to provide more than one week’s worth of meals during extended school breaks or when there is limited staffing due to COVID-19, must complete the meal pattern exemption request form and receive approval from CDE School Nutrition.
View the consultant assigned to your SFSP application
Sponsors can now view the school nutrition consultant assigned to their 2020-21 SFSP application. After navigating to the application, the top right grey bar will display the consultant’s name. Contact the consultant assigned for any assistance completing the SFSP application.
Checks from the Colorado Department of Human Services were mailed
State Administrative Expense (SAE) reallocated checks were sent by mail to food service directors at the end of November. These reimbursements should be captured as miscellaneous revenues (Source Code 1990 with no grant code) by the School Food Authority’s (SFA) non-profit food service account (i.e. fund 21). The other option, if the SFA has sufficient expenditures within its Object Code 0632, would be to capture these reimbursements as an offset to such object code account.
Maintaining participation in-school and out-of-school time meals during COVID-19
The Food Research and Action Center is hosting a webinar on Thursday, Dec. 17, at 1 p.m., which highlights promising practices and key considerations for maintaining participation as the 2020-21 school year continues. To register, please visit the webinar registration webpage.
Watch the Nourish Colorado and CDE meal quality trainings
Meal quality trainings and are now available on the Training webpage:
The first training focuses on food safety during COVID-19, building communication and marketing strategies, and setting teams up for success.
The second meal quality training highlights how to use items like fresh produce and homemade salad dressing within meals served and also provides ideas for special diets and best practices to efficiently assemble meals.
Stay tuned for the announcement of the third meal quality training.
