In this seciton, we will be talking about the operational meal service requirements.
In this section we will cover meals service documentation requirements, discuss production records and detailed menu records, as well as the requirements of meal count records, how do do a point of service, offer versus serve, and general meal service requirements and rules.
In the prior sections we have discussed the meal pattern requirements and how to plan a menu to meet those requirements. We also discussed crediting items, creating recipes, and the role of CN labels and Product formulation statements. In this section we will discuss how sponsors will document that a reimbursable meals were prepared and served, as well as what documentation you need to record to support your claim for reimbursement. The USDA and the State Agency have sample forms you may use, but you are also allowed to create your own forms to record the required information. There is flexibility for you to record certain pieces of information on one form versus another, but the important thing is that you have all the required information. If you create your own forms, or modify the template forms we suggest you submit those to our office to ensure you are not missing anything. Sample forms such as the production record may have some areas to record additional information that while not required will be helpful in the successful operation of your program.
In additional to the crediting information discussed in the previous section, this is the information you'll need to have each day for meal service. You will need: the date of service, detailed description of menu items served, substitutions (if applicable), special dietary accommodations, portion sizes, the number of meals planned for children, the number of meals planned for adults (if you're serving adults). The total number of the following meals: meals prepared or delivered (ensure you have a signature for the delivery), reimbursable meals or first meals, second meals if you're planning on clamining second meals, meals served to program adults, meals served to non-program adults, other non-reimbursable meals, and excess meals or leftovers.
Next let’s discuss the difference between the production record and the detailed menu record. Both the production record and the detailed menu record is a place for you to document the date, meal type, menu items and components served, planned portion sizes, as well as forecast the number of children and adults you are planning to serve . The major difference between the two are that production records provide a space for detail crediting information, as well as a place to calculate how much food is needed to meet the serving size requirements. These calculations can assist the shopper in knowing how much food to order to purchase. Production records also have a place to document how much of each food item was served, which is helpful when you are forecasting how much you may need next time you offer the same menu.
The detailed menu record only contains the most basic required information. You are welcome to use whichever record works best for you. Whether or not you’re using the production record, you do have to demonstrate that you’ve served a sufficient quantity of food to meet the meal pattern minimum requirements. When we come to do a review, we will check this by comparing your menu records to inventory records and receipts of the food you purchased. If you purchased an insufficient amount of food to meet the minimum portion sizes, we will question how you had enough food on hand to meet the meal service requirements. Insufficient documentation can lead to disallowed meals and the recovery of reimbursement. You can refer to the training on the Food Buying Guide to learn how to plan for and purchase enough food to meet the meal pattern for all of the meals that you serve.
It is very important that when recording food item information you are detailed and use words like baby carrots instead of just carrots. Carrots could mean canned, frozen, fresh, large small ect.. Do not just say milk. What percentage of milk? Is it flavored? This helps your shopper know exactly what to purchase, and is important when determining crediting, and your cook to know exactly what to prepare on the day of meal service. For example should the watermelon be sliced or cubed? If you are planning on serving a portion cup full of watermelon cubes and the cook cuts watermelon slices with the rind still on this may not only present a problem during meal service, but it would also impact the crediting of fruit per serving.
Let's look at the production record in more detail. Please locate the completed example in your handout packet. To complete a production record you will first fill out the basic information at the top of the form to include (which meal the record pertains to, sponsor name, site name, and whether or not the site participates in Offer Versus Serve. On the far right you will enter the date of meal service. In the first column you will enter the menu items you plan to offer. Remember to be detailed in your descriptions. In the second column you will enter the name of the meal pattern component or components that are creditable in the food item. In the third column you will enter the crediting amount for the menu items.
In the fourth column you enter serving size for as planned for children. In the fifth column you enter the planned number of servings for children. If you are offering multiple choices or doing offer versus serve the number of servings planned for each food item may be different as they are in the example. If all children and adults get everything planned, say if providing a pre-packaged or sack meal then the number of servings for each item may be the same. In the sixth column you will record the serving size for adults which may or may not be the same as for the children. In the seventh column you will record the planned number of adult servings (this will include meals prepared for both program and non-program adults).
In the eighth column you will recorded the total number of planned servings. If you are offering adults a different portion size than the children you will want to convert the servings to a common serving size so you can easily calculate the total amount of food you will need to purchase or prepare in the next step. In the ninth column you enter the servings per purchase unit from the food buying guide. Let's look at grapes as an example on how to use the food buying guide to find the servings per purchase unit number. Here is a page from the food buying guide. First match the form of grapes you are using. We are using seedless whole fresh grapes without stems. Which you can see is the second line.
The fourth column in the Food Buying Guide contains the serving size per meal contribution which in this case is ¼ cup. In the second and third column in the FBG you will find the purchase unit and the servings per purchase unit. When taken all together this information says that in one pound of fresh whole seedless grapes without stem there are 10.8 ¼ cup servings. If you were planning ½ cup servings you would divide the 10.8 by 2 which is 5.4. This would then tell you that there are 5.4 ½ cup servings of per pound of whole seedless grapes. Now that we have our servings per purchase unit that matches our serving size we are ready to record that on the production record.
In the 10th column we are going to record how much food we need to purchase or prepare to serve our planned portion size to the total number of child and adult participants we have planned. We calculate this by dividing the total number of servings in column 8 by the servings per purchase unit in column 9. In the example this would be 95 by 5.4 which equals a little over 17 lbs. Since we are purchasing grapes by the pound we would round up to the nearest purchase unit which is 18lb. So we now know to serve 95 children a ½ cup serving of grapes we need to purchase or prepare 18 lb of grapes.
We then record the amount planned prepared in column 10. While a bit tedious this calculation is the benefit of using the production record as it helps in purchasing and preparing the correct amount of food for meal service and will help to eliminate waste. If your planned numbers change on the day of meal service staff should overwrite the amounts on the form to record what was actually planned and prepared for meal service. All items up to this point should be pre planned well in advance and should be part of your cycle menu. If this information is being filled out right before meal service or after meal service the production record is not doing its job which is to help plan for meal service. The rest of the columns and the numbers at the top record what actually happened during the meal service.
In the 11th column you document the food temperature as taken just prior to meal service. This should be in line with proper health and safety standards. In the 12 column you record the amount of food served by item. In the 13th column you record the amount of food leftover, or short if you ran out of something. This column is helpful to determine whether or not your recipes yield what you think they yield or if the delivery you received actually contained the number of servings it was supposed to.
In the last column you indicate if leftovers were discarded or saved for use in a later meal service. There are two comment boxes at the bottom. One is where you can record special diet accommodations and the other is for general notes to production staff about the meal service. At the top middle of the form there is a place to record the total number of child 1st meals, 2nd meals, and adult meals served. As you can see the production record is a snapshot record of the meal service and contains a lot of information that can be useful when evaluating menus and meal service.
In contrast to production records detail menu records only contain the minimally required information to support the claim that reimbursable meals were served. The detail menu record has a place to record the site name, date of service, menu items offered planned portion sizes and total number of meals planned for both children and adults. This record may be helpful to sites that have a very stable meal service operation, and where service staff do not need the extra help in knowing what to purchase or prepare serve. It may also be useful for sites that have a very detailed cycle menu and recipe book that is used as the primary source of information for calculating purchasing and food preparation needs. It is important to not that in order to capture all the required meal service information the detail menu record must be used in conjunction with the USDA meal count from which captures the “day of” meal service information. Since this form is basic the state agency version allows for multiple days to be recorded on the same form. The intention is that meal counts for each day would be attached to this form along with any special diet accommodations. As simple as this form is many sponsors still fail to complete this in sufficient detail. Be sure to be descriptive regarding what food items are offered.
Point of service meal counts are the point where you record who received a reimbursable meal. The form used to record these counts varies by site type. Camps must take point of service by child because not all meals served to children are reimbursed. At open, closed, and migrant site meal count forms are more simplistic and staff using the USDA form just check the numbered box as the child moves through the line. A reimbursable meal is counted when a child has received all required food components in at least the minimum required serving sizes. Point of Service meal counts should not be taken before the food is served. Typically a staff member stands at the end of the serving line and counts meals as children pass by with all of the required components.
Meal counts must be independent from attendance. Just because a child was present at the site does not mean they selected a fully reimbursable meal. Point of service meal counts may be done by hand or electronically; If you’re able to take point of service counts electronically (either on a tablet or computer), it would be a great time saver for you in operating the food program, but make sure that you have a back up system in place as records cannot be recreated after meal service has taken place.
Offer versus serve (OVS) is a concept that applies to menu planning and meal service which allows children to decline some of the food offered in a reimbursable breakfast, lunch, or supper. OVS is not allowed at snack The goals of OVS are to simplify Program administration and reduce food waste and costs while maintaining the nutritional integrity of the SFSP meal that is served. All SFSP sites, regardless of location or type of sponsorship, may use OVS. Although summer regulations indicate that offer versus serve is only available to school sponsors, FNS extended this option to non-school sponsors in 2011. Utilizing OVS does not preclude the sponsor from maintaining a non-profit operation.
Please remember that OVS is not required. It is a meal planning and service option the sponsor may choose to implement. For a meal to be eligible for reimbursement, all food components in the required minimum serving sizes must be offered. A food component is one of the food groups that comprise a reimbursable meal. Sites must always offer all the food components that comprise a reimbursable meal in at least the minimum required amounts. A food item is a specific food offered within the components comprising the reimbursable meal. For example, separate ½ cup servings of peaches and pears are two food items that comprise one component, the fruit and vegetable component. It is important to note that the OVS requirements in SFSP are different from the OVS requirements in NSLP. All non-school sponsors electing to use OVS and schools participating in SFSP and electing to follow the SFSP meal patterns are required to follow the SFSP OVS requirements.
In order to ensure that children are receiving enough food to meet their nutritional needs, OVS requirements in SFSP are as follows. For breakfast, the following four food items must be offered: one serving of fruit/vegetable, one serving of gramings, one serving of fluid milk, one additional serving of fruit/vegetable, grains, or a serving of meat/meat alternate. All the food items offered must be different from each other and a child must take at least three of any of the four food items offered. For lunch or supper, the following four food componenets must be offered through at least five different food items: one serving of meat/meat alternate, two servings of fruit and/or vegetables (from two different food items), one serving of grains, and one serving of fluid milk. Lunch or supper requirements differ from breakfast in that a child must take a least three of the food components, rather than items, listed from the five food items offered. Three food components are required for an adequate and nutritious meal.
Offering two servings of the same food item is not permissible under OVS in SFSP. All food items offered must be different from each other. For example, a breakfast menu that includes a serving of milk, a serving of fruit, and two servings of toast is not a reimbursable meal under OVS in SFSP because the toast is two of the same food item. Additionally, a larger food item that is worth two servings in weight, such as a two ounce muffin, counts as only one food item under OVS in SFSP, not two. Offering different food items supports and encourages the practice of offering a variety of food choices for children, which increases the likelihood that children will select foods they prefer and reduces waste.
Meal count records must include: the date of meal service, the number of meals delivered or prepared, if vended the transport record/delivery receipt must be signed by the person receiving the delievery, complete first meals served to children, complete second meals served to children, excess meals or meals leftover, any non-reimburseable meals, meals served to program adults (if any), and meals served to non-program adults (if any). Please keep in mind that when meals are delivered, to a site, a designated member of the site staff must verify the adequacy and the number of meals that have been delivered by checking the meals when they arrive. Meal counts for camps must be taken by name to determine of all the meals served which can be claimed for reimbursement. A sample meal count form can be found in the USDA Admin Guide Attachment 17.
Meal counts should be filled out in a way that it is clear how many eligible meals were served. Meal counts should be totaled each day and then week to facilitate the easy compiling of the claim for reimbursement at the end of the month. We recommend a second person add up the claim to ensure it is correct before it is submitted to our system via CNPweb. Inaccurate meal counts that cause the sponsor to claim more meals than were actually served will result in the disallowance of meals. If meal count error are very severe, or repeated over time the error could cause the State Agency to declare the sponsor seriously deficient in this aspect of their operation jeopardizing future participation.
In order to submit a claim for reimbursement, you’ll need to total up all of the meals that you served. Camps will need to determine which of the meals served were eligible for reimbursement. You’ll probably want to total up the meals at the end of the day or week, rather than waiting until the end of the month to add up the meal counts. Counting up the entire month at one time takes a lot of time and can increase the chance of errors. Camps should also take care to keep the eligibility information for each of the children confidential during the counting and consolidation process. Each site will indicate the maximum number of meals they could serve on a given day when completing their site information sheet in CNPweb. This is referred to as a site CAP. Meals cannot be claimed in excess of this CAP. If at any time you need to increase the CAP, as reported on the state CNPweb website, please do so and then let our office know so we can approve the increase.
Meal service must be non-discriminatory and children should be served on a first come first serve basis. Special meals should not be provided to children unless there is an accompanying special dietary request based on a medical need. Meals must be consumed on site in order to be eligible for reimbursement, unless the State agency has been notified prior to meal service for a field trip or FNS has approved other off-site meal consumption. Failure to meet this “congregate feeding” requirement results in the disallowance of meals and may lead to a determination of serious deficiency of the sponsor’s operation of the Program. In extenuating circumstances, sponsors may allow meals to be consumed off-site as long as the meals consumed off-site are not claimed for reimbursement. Parents are not allowed to each off of the children’s plates even if the child has indicated they are finished with the meal. Sites may provide adult meals at a reasonable price that covers the cost of producing the meal, but may not claim adult meals for reimbursement. Parents may help children carry meals, but they should be present in the line with their children.
When entering your sites into CNPweb you will want to have site meal service beginning and end times that give you plenty of time to conduct your meal services. Do not make times so restrictive that you cannot accommodate for late meal deliveries or long lines. Sponsors may allow a child to take one fruit, vegetable, or grain item off site, to be consumed at a later time without prior state agency approval. The food item must be from the child’s own meal or from a share table. To learn more about share tables refer to the USDA Summer Admin guide pg. 67 and be sure to check with your local health department to make sure share tables are allowed. Site personnel must supervise all children on the site while they are eating meals. Site rules should be reasonably enforced and children or parents violating rules should be gently reminded of them if they wish to be allowed to participate. Site rules should be posted where they are in view of the participants and can be easily referred to by staff. We recommend placing these on the table.
If you have any questions about the topics discussed in this section please contact our office.