| Nutrition Services Division |
|
| To: All School Meal Sponsors, County Superintendents of Schools |
Number: 97-107 |
| Attention: Food Service Directors |
Date: May 1997 |
| From: School Nutrition Programs | |
| Subject: Grains/Breads Requirements for the Food-Based Menu Planning Alternative |
|
| Reference: Supersedes Management Bulletin 96-106 of May 1996, FCS Instruction 783-1, Rev.1, and Policy Memorandum 87-421 of August 1987 | |
This Management Bulletin transmits additional and clarifying information issued by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) on the grains/breads requirements. The grains/breads requirements apply to sponsors in the National School Lunch Program (NSLP) and the School Breakfast Program (SBP) using food-based menu planning alternatives which include both the 1994-95 Meal Pattern and Food Based Menu Planning.
Criteria for meeting the grains/breads requirements are summarized as follows:
- A crediting equivalency of 14.75 grams (.52 ounces) of enriched or whole-grain meal or flour, bran and/or germ has been established except for the types of products listed in Groups H and I of Exhibit A in the attached FCS Instruction. The weights and volumes listed for Groups H and I must be used. The cereal equivalency is 25 grams (1 ounce).
- Items must contribute a minimum of one-fourth serving to be credited towards meeting the grains/breads component specified in regulations.
- Items containing bran or germ are to be credited the same as items made from enriched or whole-grain meal or flour.
- Whole-grain, enriched or fortified breakfast cereal may be served at either breakfast or lunch.
- Snack products such as hard pretzels, hard bread sticks, and grain-based chips made from whole-grain and/or enriched meal or flour may contribute towards a reimbursable meal.
- Crediting of dessert products - NSLP sponsors using the Food Based Menu Planning (FBMP) alternative, sweet dessert products such as cookies, cakes, doughnuts, formulated grain-fruit products or sweet rolls, when made with whole-grain and/or enriched meal or flour, may be counted as up to one grain/bread serving per day.
Sample calculations are included with this material along with a chart outlining the grains/breads serving equivalents from the Quantity Recipes for School Food Service and A Tool Kit for Healthy School Meals (Attachment IV). Attachment II contains the new groupings for the grains/breads requirements and should be inserted in the Food Buying Guide replacing all previous pages listing the minimum creditable serving sizes. There are now nine different groupings rather than four, and some of the serving sizes have been modified.
To provide flexibility, products which NSLP and SBP sponsors have purchased based on contracts executed prior to the initial grains/breads FCS Instruction, dated March 22, 1996, will be acceptable until new contracts based on this guidance are executed for the 97/98 school year.
Attachments (available in hard copy only):
- FCS Instruction 783-1, Rev. 2; 1/8/97, The Grains/Breads Requirement for the Food-Based Menu Planning Alternatives in the Child Nutrition Programs II. FCS Instruction 783-1, Rev. 2; Exhibit A.
- Guidance for Calculating the Grain Contribution in Grains/Breads Crediting.
- Grains/Breads Serving Equivalents.
