Food and Nutrition Service – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The Food and Nutrition Service is delaying the effective date for the interim final rule published in the Federal Register on October 3, 2022, Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program: Requirement for Interstate Data Matching to Prevent Duplicate Issuances.

In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, this notice invites the general public and other public agencies to comment on this proposed information collection. This is a revision of a currently approved collection.

The United States Department of Agriculture's (USDA) Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) plans to collect additional information from grant applicants for the second round of The Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP) Reach and Resiliency Grant applications and add reporting questions on a biannual basis. FNS already has OMB approval for collection of information associated with these grants under the Uniform Grant Application for Non-Entitlement Discretionary Grants, as approved under OMB Control Number: 0584-0512 (Expiration Date: July 31, 2025). This notice solicits public comment on the additional information proposed for collection.

In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, this notice invites the general public and other public agencies to comment on this revision of a currently approved information collection. This is a collection for the electronic submission of programmatic and financial data through the Food Programs Reporting System (FPRS). The data is currently collected on approved Office of Management and Budget (OMB) forms.

The Agriculture Improvement Act of 2018 requires the Secretary of Agriculture to establish an interstate data system called the National Accuracy Clearinghouse (NAC) to prevent issuance of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits to an individual by more than one State agency simultaneously (also known as interstate duplicate participation). This interim final rule requires SNAP State agencies to provide information to the NAC regarding individuals receiving SNAP benefits in their States in order to ensure they are not already receiving benefits in another State. It also requires State agencies to take appropriate action with respect to each indication from the NAC that an individual may already be receiving SNAP benefits from another State agency. This rule aims to enhance Program integrity by reducing the risk of improper payments and improve customer service by incorporating best practices and lessons learned from the NAC pilot to require that State agencies take appropriate and timely action to resolve NAC matches. This rule also establishes safeguards to ensure households receive benefits for which they are eligible and are not incorrectly removed from the Program.

In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, this notice invites the general public and other interested parties to comment on a proposed information collection. This collection is an extension of a currently approved collection. This information collection will conduct research in support of FNS' goal of delivering science-based nutrition education to targeted audiences. This information collection will also conduct research that will assist FNS in identifying effective design and implementation approaches to use to develop and assess grants. From development through testing of materials and tools with the target audience, FNS plans to conduct data collections that involve formative research including focus groups, interviews (dyad, triad, telephone, etc.), surveys and Web-based collection tools.

In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, this notice invites the general public and other public agencies to comment on this proposed information collection. This collection is a revision of a currently approved collection for State administrative expense funds expended in the operation of the Child Nutrition Programs administered under the Child Nutrition Act of 1966.

The Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) is correcting a final rule with request for comments that appeared in the Federal Register on February 7, 2022 and went into effect in the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) on July 1, 2022. The rule established Child Nutrition Program transitional standards for milk, whole grains, and sodium for school years 2022-23 and 2023-24.

In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, this notice invites the general public and other public agencies to comment on this proposed information collection. This is a revision of a currently approved collection. This information collection consists of State agency notification and data collection activities associated with a major change in Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) operations at the State level.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (``Department'') announces adjusted income eligibility guidelines to be used by State agencies in determining the income eligibility of persons applying to participate in the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC). These income eligibility guidelines are to be used in conjunction with the WIC Regulations.

USDA is finalizing its November 25, 2020, proposed rulemaking regarding child nutrition meal pattern requirements. This final rule will establish transitional standards to support the continued provision of nutritious school meals as schools respond to and recover from the pandemic and while USDA engages in notice-and-comment rulemaking to update the meal pattern standards to more comprehensively reflect the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, 2020-2025. This final rule will provide immediate relief to schools during the return to traditional school meal service following extended use of COVID-19 meal pattern flexibilities. This rule finalizes the proposed milk provision by allowing local operators of the National School Lunch Program and School Breakfast Program to offer flavored, low-fat milk (1 percent fat) for students in grades K through 12 and for sale as a competitive beverage. It will also allow flavored, low-fat milk in the Special Milk Program for Children and in the Child and Adult Care Food Program for participants ages 6 and older. Beginning in SY 2022-2023, this final rule will require at least 80 percent of the weekly grains in the school lunch and breakfast menus to be whole grain-rich. Lastly, this final rule will modify the proposed sodium standards and establish Sodium Target 1 as the sodium limit for school lunch and breakfast in SY 2022-2023 as proposed, but implement a Sodium Interim Target 1A effective for school lunch beginning in SY 2023-2024.

On October 18, 2021, the Food and Nutrition Service revised rules concerning meal pattern tables for the National School Lunch Program and the Child and Adult Care Food Program. The document contained incorrect table entries. This document corrects the final regulations.

In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, this notice invites the general public and other public agencies to comment on this proposed information collection. This collection is a New collection for the Family Day Care Home (FDCH) Participation Study.

In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, this notice invites the general public and other public agencies to comment on this proposed information collection. This collection is a revision of a currently approved collection (OMB Number 0584-0646) for the 2023 Farm to School Census.

In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, this notice invites the general public and other public agencies to comment on this proposed information collection. This is an extension, without change, of a currently approved collection for annual outcome data for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) Employment and Training (E&T) programs.

The Food and Nutrition Service published a document in the Federal Register of November 8, 2021, concerning a Request for Information about establishing a resource center that supports State and local Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) agencies in improving the WIC application and certification journey. The document is missing a contact email. To avoid any confusion, we are re-publishing the notice in its entirety with the missing email information: The Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) is issuing this Request for Information (RFI) to gain insights from interested parties about establishing a resource center that supports State and local Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) agencies in improving the WIC application and certification journey. This is a request for information that may inform a future cooperative agreement. It is not a solicitation for proposals or proposal abstracts. The purpose of this notice is to: 1. Determine the level of interest that exists for the proposed service; 2. Obtain information about the approach to providing the service, including needs, capabilities, and requirements; and 3. Gather information on the potential constraints and risks associated with this approach. Information gathered through this RFI may be used to inform potential strategies for supporting and improving State and local WIC operations. FNS welcomes comments from all stakeholders.

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

In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, this notice invites the general public and other public agencies to comment on this proposed information collection associated with SNAP benefit storage and expungement provisions of the 2008 and 2018 Farm Bills. This collection involves both a new collection and an existing collection in use without an Office of Management and Budget (OMB) control number. The new collection is for providing SNAP households advance or concurrent notice prior to the State agency expunging unused SNAP benefits from the household's Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT) account due to nine months of account inactivity. The existing collection is for providing SNAP households advance or concurrent notice of State agency action to store unused SNAP benefits offline due to three or more months of account inactivity and for those households to seek reinstatement of benefits prior to permanent expungement. A 60- Day Federal Register Notice for this proposed information collection was previously published on February 11, 2020 (85 FR 7716). The Department was unable to submit an Information Collection Request (ICR) to OMB within a reasonable timeframe following the publication of the 2020 notice. In an effort to be fully transparent, the Department is publishing the notice again for public comment and plans to submit an ICR to OMB following an analysis of comments.

On October 1, 2021, the requirement to credit grains served in the Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP) in ``ounce equivalents'' was implemented. This action also applied to the crediting of grains served to infants and toddlers in the National School Lunch and School Breakfast Programs. This document corrects the final regulations to align meal pattern tables and corresponding endnotes with regulatory requirements.

Pursuant to the provisions of the Privacy Act of 1974, and Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Circular No. A-108, notice is given that the Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is proposing to add a new system of records, entitled USDA/FNS-12, which will replace The Integrity Profile (TIP) as the system used to house State agency vendor management data for the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC). This system maintains records of activities conducted pursuant to FNS' mission and responsibilities authorized by legislation.

This Notice announces that the United States Department of Agriculture's (USDA) Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) plans to add The Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP) Reach and Resiliency Grants, as authorized by the American Rescue Plan Act, to its list of approved programs under the Uniform Grant Application for Non-Entitlement Discretionary Grants, as approved under OMB Control Number: 0584-0512 (Expiration Date: July 31, 2022); and that FNS intends to collect additional information for the TEFAP Reach and Resiliency Grants outside of what is currently in the uniform package. This Notice solicits public comments on the additional information to be collected for the TEFAP Reach and Resiliency Grants.

This document contains a correction to an interim final rule published in the Federal Register on Friday, August 13, 2021. The rule codifies statutory requirements enacted by the Agriculture Improvement Act of 2018. This document also extends the comment period for the interim final rule.

In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, this notice invites the general public and other public agencies to comment on the proposed information collection for the Annual State Report of Verification of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) Participation. This is a revision of a currently approved information collection request. The purpose of the Annual State Report of Verification of SNAP Participants is to ensure that no person who is deceased, or has been permanently disqualified from SNAP, improperly received SNAP benefits for the fiscal year preceding the report submission. Section 4032 of the Agricultural Act of 2014 is the basis for this collection. Section 4032 mandates that States will ``submit to the Secretary a report containing sufficient information for the Secretary to determine whether the State agency has, for the most recently concluded fiscal year preceding that annual date, verified that the State agency in that fiscal year (1) did not issue benefits to a deceased individual; and (2) did not issue benefits to an individual who had been permanently disqualified from receiving benefits.'' An email from each State agency to the corresponding Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) Regional SNAP Program Director containing the answers to the above questions will be used as the mechanism for State agencies to report their compliance with the Agriculture Act of 2014.

In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, this notice invites the general public and other public agencies to comment on this proposed information collection. This collection is a Reinstatement, with change, of a previously approved collection for which approval has expired (OMB Number 0584-0530, Discontinued: 10/31/ 2020); for the Fourth Access, Participation, Eligibility, and Certification Study Series (APEC IV).

This is a Request for Information from stakeholders, including local operators, State administrators, industry and producers, about the Buy American provision in the National School Lunch Program (NSLP) and the School Breakfast Program (SBP). The NSLP and SBP, which are administered by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Food and Nutrition Service (FNS), play a critical role in ensuring that America's children have access to nutritious food they need to learn and succeed in the classroom, in addition to supporting American agriculture, and small, minority, and women's businesses and agricultural producers. In order to claim Federal reimbursement for meals served, school food authorities (SFAs) must follow Federal procurement and program regulations. These include the Buy American provision. The purpose of this Request for Information is to help FNS gather feedback from a wide variety of stakeholders on how the Buy American provision and guidance are currently implemented, changes FNS should make to current regulations and guidance and feedback on how FNS can better support local operators as they strive to purchase domestic foods and food products.