Date: October 2017

To: School Food Authorities (SFAs) Participating in the USDA Foods Program

From: Laura Sime and Lynne Slack

Wisconsin USDA Foods Section, School Nutrition Team

Subject: School Year (SY) 2017-18 USDA Foods Entitlement Adjustments

Due to USDA Foods purchase price increases and unforeseen meal count changes from the prior school year, the Wisconsin USDA Foods section will need to adjust SY 2017-18 USDA Foods annual order requests.

The adjustments will be made to end products (brown box and state processed), bulk products, and Department of Defense (DoD) Fresh Produce Program commitments. The adjustments will be made based on the following criteria: U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA’s) ability to cancel/adjust orders, product availability, as well as individual SFA entitlement spending.

Adjustments will be made to the following products:

Brown Box

·  100277, orange juice singles – cancel all March 2018 orders; partial cancellation of April 2018 orders

·  100101, diced chicken – partial cancellation of December 2017, January 2018, and February 2018 orders

·  110080, oven roasted chicken – cancel September 2017 and October 2017 back-orders

DoD Fresh Produce Program

Based on SY 2017-18 spending and overall entitlement usage, average reduction of 14.56%. The revised DoD commitments are currently accessible in the DoD Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Ordering System.

State Processed

·  C310, Turkey Mini Corn Dogs – cancel all May 2018 orders

·  C710, Mozzarella Pizza Sticks – partial cancellation of March 2018 orders

Bulk Products

·  Beef, Coarse Ground (100154), AdvancePierre – average overall reduction of 4.5%

·  Beef, Coarse Ground (100154), JTM – average overall reduction of 6.53%

·  Cheese, Barrels (110242), Land O’ Lakes – average overall reduction of 2.10%

·  Cheese, Mozzarella (110244), ConAgra – average overall reduction of 4.71%

·  Chicken, Large Birds (100103), Tyson – average overall reduction of 4.5%

·  Turkey Thighs (100883), JTM – average overall reduction of 5.95%

The Wisconsin USDA Foods section has not yet completed making the adjustments in the Wisconsin USDA Foods Ordering System. The Wisconsin USDA Foods section is still in the process of working with processors to make the individual SFA bulk inventory adjustment at affected processors.

In addition, the yearly available entitlements for SY 2017-18 have been adjusted to reflect the prior year's meal counts (SY 2016-17). The entitlement updates include a necessary reduction in the original SY 2017-18 per meal rate of $.3508 provided at annual order time to a revised per meal rate of $.285. However, this per meal rate is still above the USDA published meal rate of $.2325. To access your SFA’s adjusted entitlement for SY 2017-18, please access the Program Year 2018 “Entitlement” tab in the Wisconsin USDA Foods Ordering System.

For detailed instructions on accessing the Wisconsin USDA Foods Ordering System, please refer to the instructions posted on the Department of Public Instruction website: http://dpi.wi.gov/sites/default/files/imce/school-nutrition/doc/commodityorderinst.doc.

The Wisconsin USDA Foods section will provide an update with additional details when all of the necessary adjustments have been made. The Wisconsin USDA Foods section recognizes the challenge this may create for SFAs and appreciates your understanding and patience as we work through this process.