IDFA is pleased to invite members who provide milk, cheese, yogurt and other products to schools to a presentation from USDA’s Food and Nutrition Service on recent USDA actions to help schools, state agencies, and school food suppliers and distributors navigate recent supply-chain issues, such as for school milk.
Please find below an overview of the presentation, registration information, and the process for submitting a question to USDA to answer during the presentation. Please note this session will NOT be recorded, so we highly encourage your attendance.
Register here to join us at 1:00 p.m. Eastern on Wednesday, September 14.
Presentation from USDA-FNS on Procurement Flexibilities
USDA’s Food and Nutrition Service will outline flexibilities provided for school meal procurement, particularly as they relate to recent supply-chain issues, as well as working with other stakeholders, including school food authorities (SFAs), state agencies and others to navigate current or emerging issues. Recently, USDA made available Supply Chain Assistance funds and FNS Child Nutrition Programs’ initial funding and a second allocation. These funds can be used exclusively to purchase unprocessed or minimally processed domestic food products (also referred to as commodities), such as milk, to help SFAs manage supply chain challenges while meeting school meal pattern and component requirements (such as for fluid milk). This funding is on top of the additional temporary reimbursements that were authorized this summer for the current school year. Throughout the pandemic, FNS has been making sure that SFAs are aware of the existing regulatory flexibilities known commonly as emergency procurements and we have issued this memo on the topic. Depending on the size of the SFA and its purchases, SFAs may make purchases using informal procurement methods as well. This presentation will talk-through these actions.
To help address any question you may have, please send them to USDAPresentationQuestion@idfa.org in advance of the presentation.
Registration
This presentation is free to IDFA Members. If you have any questions about membership, please email membership@idfa.org.
Questions: If you have questions or need assistance with the registration process, please contact IDFA at 202-737-4332 or registrar@idfa.org.