Comment Request - Information Collection for the Child and Adult Care Food Program

Revision of a currently approved collection.

Section 17 of the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act (NSLA), as amended, (42 USC 1766), authorizes the CACFP to provide cash reimbursement and commodity assistance, on a per meal basis, for food service to children in nonresidential child care centers and family day care homes, and to eligible adults in nonresidential adult day care centers. The U.S. Department of Agriculture, through the Food and Nutrition Service, has established application, monitoring, and reporting requirements to manage the CACFP effectively.

The purpose of this submission to OMB is to obtain approval to continue the discussed information collection. States and service institutions participating in the CACFP will submit to FNS account and record information reflecting their efforts to comply with statutory and regulatory program requirements. Examples of data collected and reported with this collection include, but are not limited to: applications and supporting documents; records of enrollment; records supporting the free and reduced price eligibility determinations; daily records indicating numbers of program participants in attendance and the number of meals served by type and category; and receipts, invoices and other records of CACFP costs and documentation of non-profit operation of food service.

This is a revision of a currently approved collection. It revises reporting burden as a result of increases in the number of sponsoring organizations and facilities, and an increase in the number of enrolled participants, who are required to submit information. It also adds a new requirement for written documentation when requesting substitutions for fluid milk or food components for participants with special non-disability, dietary needs. This requirement is added by the regulation Child and Adult Care Food Program: Meal Pattern Revisions Related to the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010, published April 25, 2016 to 7 CFR 226.20(g) Exceptions and variations in reimbursable meals.

This revision removes two reporting requirements that had been duplicated in the current burden estimate (i.e., counted twice), and one typed error in the number of day care home sponsors, which reduce the burden. Current OMB inventory for this collection consists of 2,234,840 hours. As a result of program changes and adjustments, program burden was increased slightly by 236,715 hours since last renewal. The average burden per response and the annual burden hours for reporting and recordkeeping are explained below and summarized in the charts which follow.