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) 2024-2025.
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 already started purchasing our brown box products; many of which will be arriving at our new warehouse, Gold Star Foods, beginning in August. To maximize utilization and keep products moving out of the warehouse and into school meals, the 30-day delivery period remains in effect. Products must be set up for delivery within a maximum of 30-days; the warehouse is not to be thought of or used as a storage facility. 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/have arrived at the warehouse.
Use it or lose it! — Although most sponsors took their products in a timely manner (thank you), some products remained in accounts beyond the 30-days. With that, we will continue to implement 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 our warehouse along with storage fees, we will continue to offer 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 $17 million in Department of Defense Fresh Produce (DoD Fresh) funds for the 2024/25 school year. All allocated entitlement funds will be added to approved Recipient Agency's (RA's) FFAVORS accounts for use between July 1, 2024, and June 30, 2025, or until funds are depleted. Minimum orders remain at $150 per location.
Gargiulo Produce will continue to be the DoD Vendor for 2024-25. 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 will be swept by June 30, 2024; 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 24-25 but the commercial bid was awarded to Y-processor, the RA needs to contact Belinda Wilson at Belinda.M.Wilson@mass.gov 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. Please monitor pound usage and rebates as the products are being used. Do not wait until the end of the year to reconcile them.
The warehouse contract for SY 2024-2025 for the period of July 1, 2024, to June 30, 2025, was awarded to Gold Star Foods, Inc. 455 John Hancock Rd, Taunton, MA 02780. They will be servicing Regions 1, 2, 3, & 4.
All RAs who wish to receive their USDA Brown Box products, must complete Gold Star's "New Customer Form." If you have not done so, please contact Rani Romero at rani@goldstarfoods.com as soon as possible.
If you have any questions regarding your Gold Star account, please contact:
Customer Experience Representative Carol Navarette — carolnavarrete@goldstarfoods.com O: 909-657-4775
Customer Experience Supervisor Michelle Reyes — michellereyes@goldstarfoods.com 0: 909-657-4722
*There is a standard 15-case minimum for region 4 and a 20-cases minimum for region 1–3 (if you need to order less than 20-cases, please contact Gold Star for options). Orders that fall below the minimum case requirement will not be delivered.
In anticipation of the warehouse storage fee savings from the new contract, and continued compliance of RA's products being delivered within the 30-day timeline, DESE will be reducing the Assessment Fees for SY 24-25 from $3.40 per case to $1.70 per case. The fee applies to all frozen, cold, and dry brown box products shipped to you from the state contracted warehouse. 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 is handled by commercial distributors as the state does not incur storage charges 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.