Superintendents
Co-op Directors
other: All Principals
Child Nutrition Directors

Regulatory Authority:
Public Law 105-336 Section 12(n) of NSLA (42 USC 1760(n)); 7 CFR 210.21(d); & 7 CFR 220.16(d)

Phone Number:
501-324-9502

E-mail:
Wanda.Shockey@arkansas.gov

At the beginning of this school year some local school districts received institutional food products with CHINA stamped on the product case as the country of origin. These products had to be picked up by the food distributor since the products were non-allowable purchases.

Please be reminded that the federal procurement requirements for school district child nutrition programs (CNP) require that all foods purchased by the School Food Authority (SFA)/Local Education Agency (LEA) from the nonprofit food service account (local and federal funds) must comply with the Buy American provisions to the maximum extent practicable. This includes foods purchased that are sold to students as a la carte items.

See Attachment 1 and 2 below for United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) guidance in a Memo with the Attachment in a Question and Answer format. This guidance, SP 20-2006, Procurement Questions Relevant to the Buy American Provision, describes the following actions that a SFA/LEA should take to comply with the Buy American requirements:

1. Include a Buy American clause in all procurement documents (product specifications, bid solicitations, requests for proposals, purchase orders, etc.).
2. Monitor contract performance.
3. Require suppliers to certify the origin of the product.
4. Examine product packaging for identification of the country of origin.
5. Ask the supplier for specific information about the percentage of U.S. content in the food product.

Should a district child nutrition program receive food products that do not have at least 51% of the food in the product identified as produced in the United States, please call the food distribution entity to have the product picked up. At this time, bananas and pineapple are the only two products identified with USDA waivers to permit the purchase of foreign food products. Waivers are generally not permitted since there are many U.S. grown foods that can be substituted for foreign grown products.

For additional information or questions regarding this procurement reminder, please call the district’s assigned area specialist, Robert Ginder, or Wanda Shockey at 501-324-9502.