USDA Foods Program

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USDA Foods Program

How it all Began!

A group of about 10 Ohio School District Foodservice Directors, with the support of the Southwestern Ohio Educational Purchasing Council and the Ohio Department of Education, started the SWEPC USDA Foods Program in 2001 !   They wanted to create a  streamlined process to manage and receive commodities.   The goals of the program were to:
  1.  Reduce/Eliminate administrative burden
  2.  Expand the number of processors and products,
  3.  Simplify and expand reporting 
  4.  Streamline ordering and deliveries.  
Today, the program has grown to include 624 members and will grow to 650 for the 25-26 school year!    

Goals:
Administrative Burden -    Each year, by October 15, members log on to the commodity planner website  
 SWEPC Commodity Planner Website to sign up for the following school year. This takes about 1 minute annually to complete.  This  simple task is the only administrative tasks required annually. Certainly "reducing the administrative burden" goal was met.   

Expand Processors and Products- SWEPC USDA Program members enjoy access to over 400 commodity products from approximately 30 different processors. SWEPC handles all of the processing agreements and provides an annual list of available processed commodity items. SWEPC also handles the procurement of a distributor contract. Currently, GFS has the contract to deliver all commodities to SWEPC members. Because SWEPC members are part of the group, if a member has spent all their entitlement funds, there is most always opportunities to get more funds if funds are available in the group. All SWEPC members receive a rebate from every processor for every processed item purchased. This offsets the minimal annual enrollment fee. The majority of members get more back in rebates than the annual cost to participate. The rebates are a bonus that we now enjoy because of the size of the group.       

Simplify and Expand Reporting- Members can view all things commodities on the SWEPC Commodity Planner Website.    Auditors love the PAL reports which neatly summarize all commodity use totals for the school year. There are detailed reports on every single case purchased by school and summaries by processor as well. One very helpful tool on the commodity planner is a "thermometer" to indicate what percentage of total entitlement the district has spent. This helps districts to see how they are doing in efficiently using their entitlement throughout the school year. The SWEPC USDA Foods Program is one of the most efficient programs of its kind in the US.  We regularly spend 90-100% of the entitlement allocation each year.   

Streamline Ordering and Deliveries- All processed cases and non-processed cases (commonly referred to as Brown Box) are ordered to be delivered weekly with your regular GFS orders. This makes the ordering and delivery process seamless!    Like all districts in Ohio, SWEPC members use FFAVORS to order DOD produce.   There is no additional monthly forecasts or pre-ordering before the school year starts.  After you sign up, you can access all commodity products on the GFS website where you will find helpful tools to search and provide detailed commodity information about every product.   

What are USDA Foods (Commodities) and Why are They Critical for Schools

           All schools who participate in the National School Lunch Program, receive "entitlement" for every lunch served to students.  This "entitlement " is not CASH but instead is like a " gift card" that schools can use to buy foods that contain USDA agricultural products at a discount.  Currently the rate of entitlement is $.45 per lunch. There is no earned entitlement for breakfast meals.   

   There are 3 ways to use your entitlement:  
  1.   Processed Items (Menu products that utilize some USDA foods but may contain other foods/ingredients as well). These are provided by "processors" who receive the USDA Foods (like tomatoes) and process tomatoes into the finished pizza product for example.   
  2. Non-Processed Items - USDA Foods that are simply packaged (frozen, canned, etc.) and available to schools.  These often include canned fruits, vegetables, ground beef, etc. 
  3. Dept of Defense (DOD) Fresh Produce-   Schools can use their "entitlement" to purchase fresh produce with no cash outlay.

USDA Foods Entitlement is critical to school foodservice operations.   The value of the entitlement typically represents about 20-25% of all food used.   All revenue from foodservice sales and all expenditures in foodservice are managed in a separate account and NOT a part of the school district's general fund.  Managing food costs, labor costs and miscellaneous costs to not be more than the revenue each year is ideal.   Any deficit in foodservice must be paid by the general fund (education dollars).  The effective management of USDA Foods Entitlement "dollars" is critical to controlling food costs!   See below for the 2024-2025 Processors that participate in the SWEPC USDA Foods Program. 

What are the benefits of the SWEPC USDA Foods Program

The SWEPC USDA Foods program exists based on a collection of districts' needs:

Designed to :
            Ease administrative burden
            Simplify ordering
            Simplify deliveries
            Simplify reporting
            Diversify offerings

Allowing foodservice directors to focus on what they do best:  Feed Kids!

JOIN SWEPC TODAY!


Please reach out to Bonnie Muckenthaler, [email protected]  or call 937-890-3725 Ext: 1006 if you have any questions.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            
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