The Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) Office for Food and Nutrition Programs (FNP) is providing an update for USDA Foods for School Year (SY) 2023-2024.
Our office is committed to making sure you are kept informed about any supply chain issues and/or unexpected cancellations of USDA Food orders. Please refer to the "USDA Foods Communication" tab in the USDA Foods Orders section of the DESE Security Portal for important and time sensitive information such as brown box sales order and delivery status, bonus products, DoD vendor and product information, product recalls and more.
USDA has been busy purchasing brown box products; many of which have already arrived at our warehouses. To maximize utilization and keep product moving out of the warehouse and into school meals, the 30-day delivery period remains in effect. Please refer to your Sponsor Allocation Inquiry and Sponsor USDA Foods Allocation reports located on the security portal for more details of when your products will be arriving/has arrived at the warehouse. Products need to be set up for delivery within a maximum of 30-days; the warehouses are not to be thought of or used as a storage facility.
Use it or lose it! — Although most sponsors took their products in a timely manner (thank you), some products still remained in accounts well beyond the 30-days. With that, we have eliminated the process of "force-ship" for 2023-24, instead, we will be implementing account sweeps for products that remain in accounts beyond the 30-days. Sponsors will be notified and given the opportunity to get products delivered prior to being swept.
First Come First Serve (FCFS) — to prevent the state account from acquiring an abundance of USDA Brown Box Foods stored in each of the two warehouses, we will continue to FCFS on a weekly basis. To give you time to prepare, we will send out a notice the day prior to it being released. The FCFS will be available on the security portal located in the USDA Food Orders section. As a reminder, please take only what you can use immediately as products ordered on the FCFS must be delivered on your next available delivery day, not 30-days.
Our office has been approved for $14 million in Department of Defense Fresh Produce (DoD Fresh) funds. All allocated entitlement funds have been added to approved Recipient Agency's (RA's) FFAVORS accounts for use between July 1, 2023 and June 30, 2024, or until funds are depleted. Minimum orders remain at $150 per location.
Gargiulo Produce will continue to be the DoD Vendor for 2023-24. For questions, email DODCustomerSupport@gargiuloproduce.com or call (908)-233-8222
As a continued practice from prior school years, all unused processing pounds in RA accounts were swept on June 30, 2023; USDA regulations do not allow for carryover pounds. As the new year begins, our office must be made aware of all bid awards if the processor differs from the original one where pounds were allocated to. For example: if an RA allocated 5,000 pounds to X-processor for SY 23-24 but the commercial bid was awarded to Y-processor, the RA needs to contact Belinda Wilson at DESE immediately to reallocate those pounds
Please have processed products delivered to your district as soon as they arrive at your distributor to ensure maximum use of your allocated pounds and pass-through value rebates and net off invoice (NOI) discounts.
The warehouse contracts for SY 2022-2023 were extended for another year for the period of July 1, 2023 to June 30, 2024.
*There will be a 15-case minimum with HPC and 20-cases with GFS. Orders that fall below the minimum case requirement will not be delivered by either warehouse.
As DESE continues to navigate the high costs of warehousing, Assessment Fees remain in effect for SY 23-24. The fees are the same as last year; $3.40 per case and only charged for frozen, cold, and dry brown box products shipped to you from the state contracted warehouses. Assessment fees will automatically be deducted from monthly claim reimbursements. State Assessment Fees are not charged when utilizing entitlement for DoD Fresh or Processed products, as distribution of these products are handled by commercial distributors. In both instances, no storage charges to the state are incurred for these products.
For any additional questions around USDA Foods, please connect with a member of the team:
This institution is an equal opportunity provider.
Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education 135 Santilli Highway, Everett, MA 02149
Voice: (781) 338-3000 TTY: (800) 439-2370
Disclaimer: A reference in this website to any specific commercial products, processes, or services, or the use of any trade, firm, or corporation name is for the information and convenience of the public and does not constitute endorsement or recommendation by the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education.