This rule makes final an interim rule published in the Federal Register on Dec. 28, 1999. This final rule adopts the changes made to the Summer Food Service Program by the interim rule as mandated by three public laws--the Healthy Meals for Healthy Americans Act of 1994, the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996, and the William F. Goodling Child Nutrition Reauthorization Act of 1998. Program changes include easing restrictions on participation by private nonprofit organizations and food service management companies, streamlining rules for schools to encourage Program sponsorship, and reducing paperwork burdens for state agencies.
In addition, this rule makes minor technical changes to conform meal pattern requirements to the standards used in the National School Lunch Program and the School Breakfast Program, to correct errors in meal pattern charts and regional office addresses, and to conform application procedures to the Meal Benefit Form prototype. Finally, this rule restores and revises a paragraph that was inadvertently removed from program regulations by the interim rule.