Government Purchase of Food for NSLP

Food Safety Laws and Regulations and Inspection of NSLP Purchases

In 1946, Congress passed and President Harry Truman signed the National School Lunch Act* in response to the poor health of American soldiers drafted to serve in World War II. President Truman believed that malnutrition and poor eating habits, which had their roots in childhood, could be prevented by providing a healthy lunch at school. Over 50 years later, the program has more than lived up to President Truman's expectations of helping improve the health of children, especially those at nutritional risk, across the country.

The National School Lunch Program (NSLP), administered by the Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), is a federally assisted meal program that operates in over 97,700 public and non-profit private schools and residential childcare institutions. Over 27 million children each school day are served nutritionally balanced, low-cost or free lunches. Since its inception, more than 180 billion lunches have been served. Congress expanded the program in 1998 to include reimbursement for snacks served to children through age 18 in after school educational and enrichment programs.

School districts and independent schools choosing to take part in the NSLP receive both a cash subsidy and commodities from USDA for each of the meals that they serve. The meals they provide must meet Federal nutrition standards, and they must be offered free or at reduced prices for children who meet eligibility standards based on family income.

Any child at a participating school may purchase a meal through NSLP. However, children whose families have incomes at or below 130% of the Federal poverty level are eligible for free meals. Those with incomes between 130% and 185% of the poverty level are eligible for reduced-price meals for which they can be charged no more than 40 cents. All meals are subsidized, but not a la carte items.

The Federal standards for nutrition are based on the Dietary Guidelines for Americans and recommend that no more than 30% of an individual's calories come from fat and less than 10% from saturated fat. School lunches must also provide at least one-third of the Recommended Dietary Allowances (RDA) of protein, Vitamin A, Vitamin C, iron, calcium, and calories.

Although meals must meet these Federal standards, local school authorities make the decisions about what specific foods to serve and how they are prepared. FNS works closely with state agencies and local school districts to help them create healthful, appealing, and nutritious meals and menus. USDA's Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS), and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) monitor the safety of food provided to schools.

Government Purchase of Food for NSLP

In addition to cash reimbursements, schools receive entitlement commodities purchased for FNS by USDA's Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) and Farm Service Agency (FSA). Schools can also receive bonus commodities that are purchased to support agricultural markets. The variety of both entitlement and bonus commodities depends on the quantities available as well as market prices, with schools given the opportunity to choose the commodities they most prefer.

AMS and FSA are responsible for issuing and accepting bids and awarding and administering contracts. FNS is responsible for taking commodity orders from states, monitoring purchases and entitlements throughout the year, and the overall administrations of the commodity nutrition programs. AMS purchases red meat, fish, poultry, egg, fruit and vegetable products. FSA purchases flours, grains, peanut products, dairy products, oils and shortenings.

In School Year 2002 (July 2001-June 2002), AMS and FSA spent over $765 million on school lunch entitlement purchases. Additionally, USDA provided an average of $58 million in bonus commodities to schools in each of the last three school years.

The purchase process begins long before AMS and FSA announce the purchase of particular food items. AMS and FSA specialists knowledgeable in food processing work with potential vendors, FNS, and food safety officials to develop a specification for each product that will be purchased. Many of these items are similar to popular commercial items. Others, such as low-fat ground beef and lite-syrup (low sugar) canned fruits are developed to meet the special nutritional needs of recipients. Each specification provides details on product formulations; manufacturing, packaging, sampling, and testing requirements; and quality assurance provisions. By coordinating the development of specifications with specialists from all aspects of food processing, USDA ensures the purchases of high-quality, wholesome products that meet recipients' needs.

USDA then assesses market conditions and determines the availability and anticipated prices of commodities. During this time, AMS and FSA also work closely with FNS to determine recipient preferences.

Actual purchasing begins with AMS and FSA notifying specific industries through press releases and other means of their intent to purchase particular food products. The agencies invite bids under a formally advertised competitive bid program. These "invitations" give specific details on when bids are due for a particular purchase. All products must be U.S.-produced and of domestic origin.

Under Federal Acquisition Regulations, vendors must be deemed "responsible" prior to participating in the program. For instance, they must have a satisfactory performance record and adequate financial resources to demonstrate their ability to produce and deliver the product within designated timeframes. Recipients depend on USDA purchased food products arriving on time.

Bids are received from responsible vendors, analyzed, and contracts are awarded by AMS and FSA. Contracts are then administered by the agencies to make sure that terms and conditions are followed.

Food Safety Laws and Regulations and Inspection of NSLP Purchases

All products purchased by USDA are produced in compliance with applicable Federal food safety laws and regulations. Red meat, poultry, and egg products must be processed under USDA's Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) inspection, and all fruit and vegetable products and fish products are subject to Food and Drug Administration (FDA) requirements. FSIS and FDA assure that such products are wholesome and that processing plants operate under sanitary conditions.

FSIS is responsible for determining that meat, poultry, and egg products produced for the National School Lunch Program are safe, wholesome and in compliance with federal regulations. More than 7,600 inspection personnel are stationed in approximately 6,000 meat, poultry and egg products plants and are responsible for the inspection of more than 8.5 billion birds, 133 million head of livestock and 3.5 billion pounds of liquid egg products annually. FSIS uses the same inspection standards for meat, poultry or egg products served in the NSLP as for those consumed by the general public.

Products that pose concern from a microbial standpoint are tested in USDA laboratories to provide additional assurance of processing sanitation and product safety. In addition to FSIS inspection, AMS inspectors are present during production and shipping of all red meat and poultry items to ensure compliance with all specification requirements--including those for raw materials, processing, packaging, and testing. Plants supplying processed fruit and vegetable products undergo a survey by AMS inspectors to assure compliance with FDA requirements, including that agency's Good Manufacturing Practices. Additionally, fish products are produced in facilities operating under the National Marine Fisheries Service voluntary seafood inspection program.

To assure rapid action when a food safety concern is discovered in a commodity purchased for the NSLP, USDA, in consultation with FDA, has developed a Commodity Hold and Recall Procedure. The purpose of the procedure is to ensure that unsafe food is removed from the schools within 10 days. The procedure begins with FSIS issuing an announcement to either place the product on hold for further study or to immediately remove it from distribution and storage. FSIS, AMS, FSA and FNS all work together with industry to determine the locations of the suspect product. These locations are notified within 24 hours; provided with identifying information such as product type, package description, establishment and lot numbers; and instructed to sequester the product to a safe place and hold for further action. To prevent inadvertent use or consumption, product on hold must be removed from the production site within 10 days after the hold is issued. When appropriate, FSIS will either deem the product safe and release from hold or direct that the product be removed or destroyed with the school receiving compensation for certain expenses.

FSIS also has designed educational materials for food service professionals about proper handling and cooking techniques. These materials are provided in both Spanish and English. FSIS is working on a silent video that will enable all food preparers to understand food safety concepts. These educational materials are distributed to food service professionals in every school participating in the NSLP.

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*Now the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act.