Food and Nutrition Service June 2011 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

This notice announces a request for public comments on the approach for selecting and awarding local agencies for excellence in WIC breastfeeding services and support. Section 231 of the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010, Public Law 111-296, requires that the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) establish a program to recognize WIC local agencies and clinics that demonstrate exemplary breastfeeding promotion and support activities. USDA believes that public input on the development of the recognition program would be beneficial.

This final rule incorporates into the regulations governing the Programs authorized under the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act (NSLA) and the Child Nutrition Act of 1966 (CNA) two nondiscretionary provisions of the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010 (HHFK Act). The HHFK Act requires State and local cooperation in Department of Agriculture studies and evaluations related to Programs authorized under the NSLA and the CNA. The HHFK Act also amends the NSLA to stipulate that Federal funds must not be subject to State budget restrictions or limitations, including hiring freezes, work furloughs, and travel restrictions. This final rule amends regulations for the National School Lunch Program; the Special Milk Program for Children; the School Breakfast Program; the Summer Food Service Program; the Child and Adult Care Food Program; State Administrative Expense Funds ; the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children; and the WIC Farmers' Market Nutrition Program. These provisions will strengthen program integrity by ensuring that sufficient data is made available for studies and evaluations. Additionally, exempting Federal funds from State budgetary restrictions or limitations is intended to increase the ability of State agencies to administer USDA's nutrition assistance programs effectively.

In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, this notice invites the general public and other public agencies to comment on proposed information collections. The proposed information collection is a revision to a currently approved collection of information relating to the reporting and recordkeeping burden associated with completing and submitting form FNS-339, the Federal and State Agreement for the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC); the WIC Farmers' Market Nutrition Program (FMNP); and/or the Senior Farmers' Market Nutrition Program (SFMNP).

This rule amends National School Lunch Program (NSLP) regulations to conform to requirements contained in the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010 (Pub. L. 111-296) regarding equity in school lunch pricing and revenue from nonprogram foods sold in schools. This rule requires school food authorities (SFAs) participating in the NSLP to provide the same level of financial support for lunches served to students who are not eligible for free or reduced price lunches as is provided for lunches served to students eligible for free lunches. This rule also requires that all food sold in a school and purchased with funds from the nonprofit school food service account, other than meals and supplements reimbursed by the Department of Agriculture, must generate revenue at least equal to the cost of such foods.

This final rule incorporates into the Child and Adult Care Food Program regulations modifications, clarifications, and technical changes to the two interim rules published by the Department on June 27, 2002 and September 1, 2004. These changes result from over 1,000 public comments received in response to the two interim rules; State agencies' and the Department's experience in implementing the changes in these two rules over several years; and the Department's conduct of an extensive data collection and analysis (the Child Care Assessment Project) designed to evaluate implementation of these two interim rules by family day care home sponsors and providers. This rule clarifies or modifies regulatory provisions relating to: State agency criteria for approving new and renewing institutions' applications; sponsoring organization requirements pertaining to the ``block claim'' edit check and review averaging; and State- and institution-level requirements pertaining to the serious deficiency process. The changes in this final rule are designed to further improve Program management and integrity and, where possible, to streamline and simplify Program requirements.