Who: Sponsors of the Summer Food Service Program (SFSP) and the Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP)
What:
Schools and other organizations serving meals to children under one of the USDA’s child-nutrition programs often have a choice in what type of meals they serve. Specifically, in two summer-food programs (the Seamless Summer Option under the National School Lunch Program and the Summer Food Service Program) and one afterschool-meals program (the Child and Adult Care Food Program), service providers can serve a snack or a fuller, five-component meal.
Snacks typically have two components, chosen from four: milk, fruit or vegetable, meat or meat alternate and grain.
Fuller meals (suppers and lunches) contain five components: milk, fruit, vegetable, meat or meat alternate and grain.
Afterschool and summer food sites sometimes serve snacks instead of the fuller meals to reduce waste.
Others have found fuller meals to be more efficient, since preparation of either meal type takes a similar amount of time and effort. Five-component meals also allow more flexibility in menu selection, since there are more items to choose from.
Finally, full five-component meals provide more revenue (more than three times the reimbursement rate as snacks).
Steps:
- Contact DESE (if using the Seamless Summer Option) or DHSS. Inform the agency of your intent to change your service plan. You may be asked to document the change in plan.
- Monitor demand, waste and meal counts. Ask students for feedback! Change your plan if needed
