Food and Nutrition Service 2020 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

This notice informs the public of the annual adjustments to the reimbursement rates for meals served in the Summer Food Service Program for Children. These adjustments address changes in the Consumer Price Index, as required under the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act. The 2021 reimbursement rates are presented as a combined set of rates to highlight simplified cost accounting procedures. The 2021 rates are also presented individually, as separate operating and administrative rates of reimbursement, to show the effect of the Consumer Price Index adjustment on each rate.

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. This information collection addresses the recordkeeping burden associated with forms FNS-292A (Report of Commodity Distribution for Disaster Relief) and FNS-292B (Report of Disaster Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Benefit Issuance). The reporting burden for these forms, which we are not seeking in this request, are already approved under OMB Control Number: 0584-0594; Expiration Date: 07/31/2023.

This final rule removes from the Code of Federal Regulations the final rule published on December 12, 2018, titled, ``Child Nutrition Programs: Flexibilities for Milk, Whole Grains, and Sodium Requirements.'' This action responds to a decision of the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland that vacated the rule.

Through this final rule, the U.S. Department of Agriculture's (the Department or USDA) Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) is codifying a revised statutory requirement included in the Agriculture Improvement Act of 2018 (2018 Farm Bill). Section 4102 of the 2018 Farm Bill established new Commodity Supplemental Food Program (CSFP) certification requirements..

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. This is a revision of currently approved information collection requirements associated with initiating collection actions against households who have received an overissuance in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP).

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 an Extension of a Currently Approved Collection.

This final rule amends the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) regulations to implement provisions of the 2008 Farm Bill regarding monthly benefit issuance allotments, storage of benefits off-line, and permanent expungement of unused benefits, as well as related benefit expungement and off-line storage provisions of the 2018 Farm Bill. This final rule also updates SNAP regulations to reflect the program's name change to SNAP and benefit issuance through Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT) systems.

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 for the extension, without change, of a currently approved collection for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) Employment and Training (E&T) Program Activity Report (form FNS-583) and State requests for additional funding only. Requests and recordkeeping for these activities are currently approved under OMB No. 0584-0339, expiration date 01/31/2021. The burden hours and total annual responses remains unchanged. FNS is not seeking public comments on the reporting burden for the FNS-583 because that is under FNS' web-based Food Program Reporting System, OMB Control No: 0584-0594, expiration date 07/31/ 2023.

This Notice announces the annual adjustments to the national average payments, the amount of money the Federal Government provides States for lunches, afterschool snacks, and breakfasts served to children participating in the National School Lunch and School Breakfast Programs; to the maximum reimbursement rates, the maximum per lunch rate from Federal funds that a State can provide a school food authority for lunches served to children participating in the National School Lunch Program; and to the rate of reimbursement for a half-pint of milk served to non-needy children in a school or institution that participates in the Special Milk Program for Children.

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 for the Best Practices in Disaster SNAP Operations and Planning study. This is a new information collection request. This study informs the U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) about best practices in planning for and implementing D-SNAP.

In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, this notice invites the general public and other public agencies to comment on the proposed collection. This is a revision of a currently approved collection in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program and concerns Retail Store Applications (Forms FNS-252; FNS-252-C, FNS-252- E; FNS-252-FE; FNS-252-R and FNS-252-2).

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 information collection request.

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. This collection is a revision of the currently approved collection for the applications, periodic reporting, and notices burden calculations for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP).

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.

The Department of Agriculture's Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) is extending the public comment period on the proposed rule titled, ``Employment and Training Opportunities in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program'', which was published in the Federal Register on March 17, 2020. This action extends the deadline for receipt of public comments to give the public additional time to review the proposed rule.

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 request for reinstatement with changes of a previously approved information collection under OMB Control Number 0584-0471, which expired on March 21, 2012. This is the fourth in a series of studies designed to provide statistically valid national estimates of food acquisitions (both purchased foods and USDA Foods) made by school food authorities (SFAs) participating in the Federally supported school nutrition programs.

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 existing collection in use without an OMB Control Number in which we are seeking approval to establish a process for SNAP authorized retailers to request a waiver from the Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) to offer SNAP recipients incentives that encourage them to purchase healthier foods. This collection burden only affects SNAP retailers and non-profit organizations or governmental entities who partner with SNAP-authorized stores. There is no data collection activities for SNAP households in this request.

This rulemaking proposes to amend the Summer Food Service Program (SFSP) regulations to strengthen program integrity by codifying in regulations changes that have been tested through policy guidance and by streamlining requirements among Child Nutrition Programs. These changes update important definitions, simplify the application process, enhance monitoring requirements, and provide more discretion at the State agency level to manage program operations. The intended effect of this rulemaking is to clarify, simplify, and streamline program administration in order to facilitate compliance with program requirements. The original comment period for this proposed rule, published on January 23, 2020, ends on March 23, 2020. FNS is extending the comment period through April 22, 2020.

This notice announces the Department's annual adjustments to the Income Eligibility Guidelines to be used in determining eligibility for free and reduced price meals and free milk for the period from July 1, 2020 through June 30, 2021. These guidelines are used by schools, institutions, and facilities participating in the National School Lunch Program (and Commodity School Program), School Breakfast Program, Special Milk Program for Children, Child and Adult Care Food Program and Summer Food Service Program. The annual adjustments are required by section 9 of the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act. The guidelines are intended to direct benefits to those children most in need and are revised annually to account for changes in the Consumer Price Index.

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 an extension, without change, of a currently approved collection for assisting state agencies to record, track and manage the required training hours in four major areas (Nutrition, Operations, Administration, Communications and Marketing) to meet the requirements of the Healthy Hunger Free Kids Act (HHFKA) of 2010 Professional Standards Rule. The HHFKA (Section 306) requires Professional Standards for state and local school district nutrition professionals. In addition to hiring standards, mandatory annual training will be required for all individuals involved in preparing school meals. To meet the training requirements and assist in keeping track of training courses, FNS developed a web-based application tool with a SQL-server database, which is available to local educational agencies and school food authorities through the FNS public website. While training requirements are mandatory, using the USDA Tracking Tool is voluntary. School nutrition professionals can use any method to track and manage their trainings. These resources facilitate compliance with HHFKA requirements and are provided at no cost to the state, district, or individuals.

On September 25, 2019, the Food and Nutrition Service published meal pattern tables in Agency rules. This document corrects the presentation of tables in the final rule.

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 recognizing program sponsors' nutrition efforts in the Summer Food Service Program (SFSP) or the National School Lunch Program (NSLP) Seamless Summer Option (SSO).

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), Food and Nutrition Service (FNS), Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC Program or WIC) is issuing this Request for Information to obtain input from WIC State agencies, authorized vendors, food manufacturers, technology partners, and other interested stakeholders regarding the direction of the National Universal Product Code (NUPC) database. The NUPC database can be used by WIC State agencies delivering benefits via Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT) to develop, update and maintain their Authorized Product Lists (APLs). FNS is specifically interested in obtaining stakeholder perspectives on the role of the NUPC database to the program community, and different options for operating, maintaining, and/or enhancing the database. FNS welcomes comments from all interested stakeholders.

This rulemaking proposes changes to simplify meal pattern and monitoring requirements in the National School Lunch and School Breakfast Programs. The proposed changes, including optional flexibilities, are customer-focused and intended to help State and local Program operators overcome operational challenges that limit their ability to manage these Programs efficiently. In the National School Lunch Program, the proposed rule would add flexibility to the existing vegetable subgroups requirement. In the School Breakfast Program, the proposed rule would make it easier for menu planners to offer meats/meat alternates and grains interchangeably (without offering a minimum grains requirement daily), and would allow schools to offer \1/2\ cup of fruit in breakfasts served outside the cafeteria to reduce food waste. Other proposed changes would make it easier for local Program operators to plan menus for different age/grade groups, and expand the entr[eacute]e exemption service timeframe for competitive foods. To improve efficiency in Program monitoring, the proposed rule also would ease several administrative review requirements, including the review cycle. The monitoring changes aim to decrease the burden associated with administrative reviews while rewarding program integrity initiatives at the State and local levels. This rule also proposes to make updates, clarifications, and technical corrections throughout other parts of its regulations. Implementation of the wide range of proposed changes and flexibilities is expected to simplify operational requirements, increase efficiency, and make it easier for State and local Program operators to feed children.

In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, this notice invites the general public and other public agencies to comment on this information collection. This collection is a revision of a currently approved collection for determining eligibility for free and reduced price meals and free milk as stated in FNS regulations. These Federal requirements affect eligibility under the National School Lunch Program, School Breakfast Program, and the Special Milk Program and are also applicable to the Child and Adult Care Food Program and the Summer Food Service Program when individual eligibility must be established. The eligibility burden of the Child and Adult Care Food Program and the Summer Food Service Program is reported in information collections under OMB Control Numbers 0584-0055 and 0584-0280, respectfully. The proposed collection reports the eligibility burden of National School Lunch Program; the School Breakfast Program; and the Special Milk Program. Previous information collection reviews unintentionally omitted the burden hours associated with the Special Milk Program's eligibility criteria, and some revisions being requested are due to the addition of the Special Milk Program. The current approval for the information collection burden associated with the eligibility requirements expires on March 31, 2020.