USDA Foods Participation Election for SY 2024-25

National School Lunch Program (NSLP) sponsors participating in Food Distribution Program (FDP) may begin submitting changes to the way they will order and receive U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Foods for School Year (SY) 2024–25.

Sponsors who wish to make a change to their FDP participation method must email a letter of intent that includes the agency name, address, phone number, vendor number, contact name, and how the agency will participate for SY 2024­–25 to FoodDistribution@cde.ca.gov by December 15, 2023. No action is required for sponsors electing to continue to participate in the FDP through their current method.

The California Department of Education (CDE) has a guide titled FDP Avenues for Receiving USDA Foods, which compares services among the CDE state distribution centers, state cooperatives (co-ops), and private co-ops. This guide is included in Management Bulletin NSD-FDP-02-2013 on the CDE FDP Changing Receipt of USDA Foods web page. Additionally, the CDE has posted a recorded training titled CDE FDP: Avenues of Participation, course number 669 located in the FDP tab of the CDE Child Nutrition Programs Course Catalog web page. This training video provides an overview of the three different avenues for receiving USDA Foods in California.

As a reminder, all NSLP sponsors are eligible to receive USDA Foods which can help offset food costs. If your school is not currently benefiting from USDA Foods, please contact the staff listed below for more information.

Contact Information

If you have any questions regarding this subject or if your school is not currently participating in the FDP, please contact Amy Bell, Child Nutrition Consultant (CNC), by phone at 916-322-5051 or by email at abell@cde.ca.gov, or Sherry Tam, CNC, by phone at 916-324-9875 or by email at stam@cde.ca.gov to learn more about the program and its financial benefits.