The Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act provides an additional 6-cents per-lunch reimbursement to school districts certified to be in compliance with the Act's meal pattern requirements for both the National School Lunch Program and the National School Breakfast Program, if offered. If you're not yet claiming this additional reimbursement, you're missing out on monies that can help bolster your foodservice budget.
All School Food Authorities (SFAs) are required to follow the HHFKA meal patterns in all of their buildings, so all districts participating in these child nutrition programs can be receiving the additional 6-cent reimbursement. On its website, the USDA provides a certification tool with a menu worksheet and a nutrient assessment worksheet to help you demonstrate compliance of one week of each menu you offer (i.e., K-5, 6-8, 9-12), for both lunch and breakfast, for each building in your district. The completed worksheets, and the appropriate reports from a nutritional analysis software (or NutriStudents K-12) need to be submitted to your state certifying agency to secure the additional reimbursement. This is a one-time process - ongoing verification of meal pattern compliance is conducted as part of your regular USDA Administrative Reviews.
State certifying agencies are required to respond to an SFA's certification request within 60 days. Your district will begin receiving the additional reimbursement for meals served during the month in which the state confirms certification.
The team at NutriStudents K-12 would be happy to help you with the necessary paperwork to secure the additional 6-cent reimbursement. Contact customerservice@NutriStudentsK-12.com for assistance.
This institution is an equal opportunity provider.
By signing into NutriStudents K-12®, I acknowledge that I have read and agree to the terms and conditions of the End User License Agreement and Privacy Policy.
Food News