The purpose of this instruction is to establish the general standards and procedures that the state distributing agency must follow in order to ensure that restitution is made for the loss of donated foods, or for the loss or improper use of funds provided for, or accruing from, the distribution of donated foods.
Addendum to state agency – school food authority agreement
This Instruction sets forth the policy regarding fees, other than the basic meal charge, assessed against children participating in the National School Lunch, School Breakfast, and Special Milk Programs to support the meal or milk service.
Policy Memorandum No. FD-022, Adjusted Guide Rates for Fresh Fruits and Vegetables (issued June 9, 2003), is cancelled. Refer to Exhibit 0 of FNS Handbook 501 for the current guide rates for fresh produce.
To ensure program integrity, school districts must sample household applications certified for free or reduced-price meals, contact the households, and verify eligibility. This process (known as household verification) can be burdensome for both school officials and households. Direct verification uses information from certain other means-tested programs to verify eligibility without contacting applicants. Potential benefits include: less burden for households, less work for school officials, and fewer students with school meal benefits terminated because of nonresponse to verification requests.
This supersedes the Jan. 7, 2010, version of the policy memo, Exclusion of Military Combat Pay. In addition to combat pay and other income received by deployed service members, this memorandum addresses Deployment Extension Incentive Pay.
This memo is in response to questions raised through Quality Control reviews related to student eligibility for SNAP benefits. Section 6(e) of the Food and Nutrition Act of 2008 and federal regulations at 7 CFR 273.5(a) prohibit students enrolled at least half-time in an institution of higher education from receiving SNAP benefits unless specific exemptions are met.
On Dec. 22, 2009, Puerto Rico passed Law 191 of 2009 that voids all Puerto Rican birth certificates issued prior to July 1, 2010. Current Puerto Rican birth certificates remain valid until the July I, 2010 effective date of the new law. As a result of this recent legislation, FNS has been asked to provide guidance to state agencies as to the treatment of voided Puerto Rican birth certificates for SNAP purposes.
On June 21, 2010, Food and Nutrition Service issued policy guidance on how to treat household members whose Puerto Rican birth certificates were voided under Puerto Rico Law 191 of 2009. The SNAP policy was to go into effect July 1, 2010 to coincide with the effective date of the new law.
This audit guidance policy memorandum clarifies the audit-related tracking and notification requirements for TEFAP state agencies and Eligible Recipient Agencies that further distribute or pass-through TEFAP food or funds to ERAs and are subject to audit requirements under 7 CFR Part 3052.