CACFP Meal Patterns

Answer: Yes, starting October 1, 2017, centers and DCH must document when a food is WGR on their menu and may do this by using terms such as whole grain-rich, WGR, whole wheat, or simply listing a whole grain. For example, a menu may say: peanut butter and jelly sandwich on WGR bread, whole wheat pasta and chicken, or brown rice and vegetables. Common and usual names for whole grains that are helpful to know and can be used to identify WGR foods on menus are:

• The word whole listed before a grain, such as whole wheat or whole corn;
  

• The words berries and groats are used to designate a whole grain, such as wheat berries or oat groats;
  

• Rolled oats and oatmeal (including old fashioned, quick cooking, and instant oatmeal); and
  

• Other whole grain foods that do not use the word whole in their description, such as brown rice, brown rice flour, wild rice, quinoa, millet, triticale, teff, amaranth, buckwheat, and sorghum.
  

• It is the responsibility of the sponsor to check labels and product information to ensure that the WGR items being served meet the WGR criteria presented in this memorandum. The State agency will review documentation during the administrative review.

Answer: The snack would be disallowed. This is because the snack is the meal with the lowest reimbursement rate that contained a grain. Conversely, if a grain was not served at snack and the grain at breakfast is not WGR, then the breakfast meal would be disallowed. In that situation, the breakfast meal is the meal with the lowest reimbursement rate that contained a grain.

Answer: When serving processed tofu products (such as links and sausages made from tofu), as meat alternates in a reimbursable meal, the tofu must contain the required 5 grams of protein per 2.2 ounces by weight or ¼ cup by volume. However, the protein content of the additional ingredients in the processed tofu product is also included on the Nutrition Facts label. Therefore, the Nutrition Facts label is not sufficient documentation to indicate that a meat alternate like a soy burger or tofu sausage meets the protein requirement. This information would need to be obtained from the manufacturer.

Answer: Food items that are mixtures of vegetables and fruits, such as a carrot-raisin salad, may credit towards both the vegetable component and the fruit component if they contain at least ⅛ cup vegetable and ⅛ cup fruit per serving that are easily identifiable. For example, a carrot-raisin salad served to 6-year-olds that contains ½ cup carrots and  ⅛ cup raisins (credits as ¼ cup fruit) meets the full vegetable component and the full fruit component.

Similarly, vegetable mixtures may count towards the vegetable component and fruit component at lunch and supper if they contain at least ⅛ cup of two different kinds of vegetables. This is because a vegetable can replace the fruit component at lunch and supper meals. For example, a center serves 6-year-old children ½ cup roasted broccoli and ¼ cup roasted cauliflower mixed together. The cauliflower is replacing the fruit component and meets the minimum serving size required for the fruit component for children 6-12 years of age. However, if the quantities of the different vegetables are not known, such as frozen carrots and peas, the vegetable mixture counts as one serving of vegetables and cannot count towards the fruit component. Another vegetable or fruit would need to be served to fulfill the fruit component.

Answer: Regardless of the type of meal service used, an adult day care center can only serve yogurt in place of fluid milk once per day. The yogurt limitation applies to the served meals, not what the adult participant selects or consumes. It is important to remember that yogurt cannot be counted towards the fluid milk component and the meat alternate component during the same meal. However, yogurt may be served in place of fluid milk at one meal and served as a meat alternate in another meal on the same day.

Answer: Yes. If an at-risk afterschool center or adult day care center only serves one meal per day and chooses to use OVS, all the grain items offered must be WGR. While OVS allows a variety of food items from one component to be served, a center that only serves one meal per day cannot offer one WGR grain and one enriched grain. This ensures greater consumption of whole grains if a child or adult chooses to take a grain item.

Answer: Yes, starting October 1, 2017, children two years of age and older must be served unflavored, low-fat or unflavored, fat-free milk and children one year of age must be served unflavored, whole milk. The fluid milk requirements are based on age to ensure that children are receiving the nutrients they need for growth and development. Centers and DCH must ensure that children of various ages seated together receive the appropriate type of milk.

Answer: No. The limit on juice (at no more than one meal or snack per day) applies to the center or DCH, not to each individual child or adult participant. Therefore, if a center or DCH serves two different meals to two different groups of children or adults, only one meal may contain juice.

Answer: Yes. Breastmilk is an allowable substitute for fluid milk for children of any age. Therefore, if a mother chooses to breastfeed her infant past 1 year of age, she may breastfeed the child on-site or provide expressed breastmilk and the center or DCH may claim reimbursement for those meals.

Answer: It depends. Solid foods are introduced gradually, which means that it may be appropriate to serve the solid food only once per day and then gradually increase the number of feedings per day. The infant does not need to be offered a solid food component that is part of every MP, such as vegetables and fruit, until the infant has established a tolerance for that solid food component at multiple feedings per day. It is important to remember that the quantity of food an infant consumes changes from feeding-to-feeding or day-to-day. Infants may want to eat less food when teething or not feeling well and more food on days when they have a very good appetite.

Answer: Yes. If an infant is developmentally ready to accept solid foods prior to 6 months of age, the center or DCH may serve the solid foods and claim reimbursement for those meals. Most infants are not developmentally ready to accept solid foods until around 6 months of age; however, infants develop at different rates. Centers and DCHs should talk about the introduction of solid foods with infants’ parents or guardians and can share the signs for developmental readiness discussed in the body of this memorandum.

Answer: If a center or DCH believes that an infant is developmentally ready to start eating solid foods, they should engage in a conversation with the infant’s parents or guardians. The provider can tell the parents or guardians about the signs they have seen indicating the infant is ready to start solid foods and ask if they would like solid foods to be served while the infant is in care. Child care providers should be in constant communication with the infant’s parents or guardians about the infant’s eating habits as well as when and what solid foods should be served while the infant is in their care.

If the parent or guardian does not want their infant to be served solid foods while the infant is in care, the center or DCH should respect that decision and should not serve the infant solid foods. In this situation, as long as the center or DCH continues to serve the infant the required amount of breastmilk or iron-fortified infant formula, the meals are still reimbursable.