District/School Administration PK-16 Program Support
Nutrition, Health and Safety

Commodity Update
April 2008

Donated Food Ordering Procedures

Electronic Commodity Food Allocation/Acceptance Notice

All schools, including Residential Child Care Institutions and Child and Adult Care Centers are required to submit the Food Allocation/Acceptance Notice (offer sheet) electronically via the Internet. Schools and Child and Adult Care Centers no longer receive a printed offer sheet, Commodity Update or notices from this office. Offer sheets will be available on line the fourth Friday of the preceding month. Orders must be submitted by the third Friday of the month for which the offer sheet is available. After that date, the foods listed on the offer will be reallocated with the next month's offers. April's order is due no later than April 18, 2008.

Please allow five days from the date you submit your order before calling the warehouse or carrier for a delivery date. All orders must be picked up by the end of the following month.

Recall of Processed Products Made from Beef Supplied by Westland Meat Company

The destruction of processed products made from beef supplied by Westland Meat Company has been completed. We have instructed our four contracted warehouses to ship all remaining supplemental orders and we have notified processors that they may resume shipping new orders.

USDA has notified this office that they will make every effort to reimburse schools and child and adult care food programs for the costs incurred due to the destruction of processed products made from beef supplied by Westland Meat Company. To tabulate costs and request reimbursement from USDA related to this recall, we need to compile the costs incurred.

The US Department of Agriculture requires documentation for any reimbursement that may be provided. In order to receive reimbursement, you must complete and submit the Documentation of Costs to Destroy Processed Products Made from Beef Supplied by Westland Beef Company Form, mailed to you on March 25th no later than April 7, 2008. With this form, you must submit documentation for all out of pocket costs which you are claiming (for example, invoices, destruction documents, etc.). We will compile this information and submit it to USDA. Claims submitted after the close of business on April 7, 2008 will not be processed. At this time, we do not have the specifics on when or how much reimbursement will be available to your school.

An instructional memo and the Documentation of Costs to Destroy Processed Products Made from Beef Supplied by Westland Beef Company Form is available in the Document and Reference Library of the security portal.

USDA Frozen Fruit Cups-Peaches and Strawberries

Vendors providing frozen fruit cups are required to have an identifiable code on each of the primary containers reflecting the date of pack. To meet this requirement, the majority of the vendors are using the actual date of pack on the primary containers i.e. individual cups. The date stamped on the bottom of the individual cups is a pack date, not an expiration date or a best if used by date.

Based on the number of questions and concerns received in school year 2007/2008, USDA has requested that all vendors immediately change to a julian date on the containers, but unfortunately, the majority of the product has already been packed. They have changed the Commodity Specifications for next year and beyond by requiring only julian dates on the primary containers.

The Direct Diversion survey for Group A and Group B commodities are closed. No additional surveys will be processed.

Food Distribution Staff Directory

Martha Herlihy, Section Head 781-338-6473
mherlihy@doe.mass.edu

Ahmed Bilimoria
781-338-6506
abilimoria@doe.mass.edu
Internet offer sheet questions, Shipping and receiving questions

Darlene Wong-Kam
781-338-6478
Dwong-kam@doe.mass.edu
Processing questions

Alice Yee
781-338-6453
ayee@doe.mass.edu
Invoice reprints

Michael Murphy
781-338-6542
mjmurphy@doe.mass.edu
Invoice reprints