Quite a few questions were answered by policy experts at USDA and CDE at our Town Hall last week. Many of these are questions we hear echoed throughout the community so we wanted to share. To view the Town Hall and related resources, click here.
Waivers
Q. Is there any talk in DC of extending the waivers past the June and September deadlines?
A. There is conversation within the administration about extending the school waivers and CACFP is part of that conversation. Hoping to know more by mid to late April.
Q. What are the expectations behind site monitoring during COVID-19? We have an Administrative Review (AR) coming up shortly. We noticed a portion of the review is only recording 5 days worth of meals. We have guidance to where we could serve weekend meals as we are in an economically depressed area. We have been serving meals in 3 meal/4 meal format. What would be recommendation in regard to the AR?
A. We are looking at 5 consecutive days. Within these days weekend meals may be included. Clarifying the AR will look at a 5 day span however the meals may still be produced and distributed for 7 days.
Q. Is there an end date allowing homeless shelters to serve 18-24 year-olds or is this permanent?
A. That provision applies to the current national health emergency due to the pandemic.
Q. In regard to the monitoring review waiver, is the 6 months in between visits still being waived? If we no longer have this flexibility, does the 6 month marker start effective 10/1/21?
A. The waiver of the requirement around no more than 6 months elapsing between monitoring visits was part of the COVID-19: Child Nutrition Response #27: Nationwide Waiver of Monitoring Requirements for Sponsors in the Child and Adult Care Food Program, which expired on August 31, 2020. Please check with your State agency for guidance on how to schedule your reviews.
CDE to CDSS Transition
Q. Has anyone heard, if we are able to keep CNIPS for reporting once we moved over to CDSS?
A. The CDE and CDSS are working on an agreement to maintain CNIPS through the transition.
Grains
Q. As you know from discussions going on throughout the country regarding the issue of equity and ounce equivalents, is FNS considering modifying the implementation?
A. FNS is interested in hearing more about equity and ounce equivalents for grains. Can you provide more specifics? FNS provides easy training tools using common household measures in English and in Spanish via live webinars, recorded webinars, slide decks, training worksheets, printed and electronic materials. Twenty-seven state agencies still have 2018 meal service training grants, which can be used to help with training in hard-to-reach areas.
Q. For day care home providers, how should the grain ounce equivalent requirement look like in homes? How do you recommend that we monitor this requirement? We are going to train and distribute materials but I am not sure how else to implement.
A. DCH sponsoring organizations can share the USDA Team Nutrition tools, which include grains measuring charts at Using Ounce Equivalents for Grains in the CACFP | USDA-FNS. DCH sponsors can also provide specific guidance, such as 1/4 cup goldfish-type crackers provide 1/2 oz eq, and any bread they purchase must weigh at least 28 grams per slice.
Also, calculations are not required to determine oz eq for food products in Group H of the USDA Exhibit A Grains Chart (e.g., oatmeal, quinoa, pasta, rice) and Group I (ready-to-eat breakfast cereals) available at https://foodbuyingguide.fns.usda.gov/Content/TablesFBG/ExhibitA.pdf. The calculations to determine the oz eq are below.
Food products in Group H
1 oz dry grain product = 1 oz eq. For example, 12 oz dry macaroni = 12 1-oz eq grain servings.
½ cup cooked grain product = 1 oz eq. For example, 6 cups of cooked pasta = 12 ½-cup servings = 12 1-oz eq grain servings.
RTE Breakfast Cereals in Group I
1 cup flakes and rounds = 1 oz eq
1¼ cups puffed
¼ cup granola
Do you have any questions? We'll help you get them answered. Comment below or email samantha@ccfproundtable.org.
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