There’s no doubt the USDA Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Program (FFVP) benefits children. It provides extra nutrition to children’s diets, while exposing them to a variety of fresh fruits and vegetables. All of this helps develop long-term healthy habits.
However, before applying for the program, there are a few considerations you should take into account.
In this article, we will review what the FFVP requirements are and what to consider before applying.
What is the USDA Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Program?
The FFVP is a USDA program that reimburses elementary schools for purchasing fresh produce to offer students in addition to their regular meals.
The purpose is to introduce low-income students to fresh produce they may otherwise not have a chance to consume.
Requirements of FFVP
Here are the main requirements for operating the program.
Elementary School
To participate in the FFVP, the school must be classified as “elementary”. Which grades are considered to be “elementary” varies state-to-state, so USDA uses whatever definition the state uses.
Combination schools are not eligible. For example, a school that includes grades K-12 cannot apply just for their state-defined “elementary grades” (K-5, PK-6, etc.).
Service Time
Schools must serve FFVP produce during the school day, outside their regular meal program.
Therefore, you can’t served it during breakfast, lunch, or summer. It also cannot be served before or after school or passed out as students are leaving.
Free/Reduced Rate
The school must serve a high population of free/reduced students.
There is no standard cutoff nationwide that is used. Instead, states must look at all the schools that apply each year and distribute the funds to the schools with the highest free/reduced rate, working their way down until no funds remain.
In states with a lot of schools with high free/reduced rates, schools must have a high free/reduced rate to receive the program. For example, my state often only awards FFVP to schools with free/reduced rates above 90%.
States that have a lower average free/reduced rate will award to schools with lower free/reduced rates, sometimes in the 30-40% range.
This also means that schools can receive the program one year, but lose it the next if more schools with higher free/reduced rates apply that year.
Participants
The produce must be made available to all students enrolled in the school. This means you can’t serve it to only certain grades or classrooms.
Adults are also not typically permitted to participate. The exception is a classroom teacher who is permitted to participate to role model the behavior.
Allowable Produce
The fruit or vegetable served must be fresh (not canned, frozen, dried, etc.).
Fruits cannot be served with dip, served as a combination food (like in smoothies or fruit pizza) or prepared in any other way but fresh. Think whole bananas, watermelon cubes, starfruit slices, etc.
Vegetables can be served with low fat dip. If you want to serve cooked fresh vegetables, you can only do so once per week, and it must be accompanied by a nutrition education lesson.
Widely Publicize Availability
The program requires participating schools to “widely publicize within the school the availability of free fresh fruits and vegetables.”
Be prepared to meet this requirement with morning announcements, posters, and/or nutrition education materials.
Considerations
Here are seven considerations you should review before applying for the Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Program.
1. Administrative Support
Your principal must be on board with the idea. Be upfront with what the program entails and what their and their staff’s responsibilities will be.
Since the produce has to be served outside regular meal times, you will need their help figuring out the logistics of how students will get their fruit or vegetable.
Will you deliver to classrooms? Can they pick it up from the cafeteria? Is there another centralized location they can pick it up from?
It’s also helpful to help them think through some of the challenges they may face and how you can be proactive in solving them. For example:
- Messes: kids + food = mess. Offer to provide additional wipes and trash bags for classrooms
- Less popular items: some items, especially certain vegetables, will be less popular. Warn them this will happen and remind them the greater purpose
- Returned food: speaking of which, sometimes there is leftover produce that students didn’t take, but is no longer in temperature control. Be prepared to give the principal guidance on how these situations should be handled
2. Space
All this produce and dip takes up space in your cooler and stockroom.
While you can spend 10% of the money on “administrative” purchases, such as a reach-in cooler for storage, it may not be enough to cover the entire cost of a new unit. And really small schools may not have space or electrical capacity for a reach-in cooler.
There are often extra supplies needed as well that take up space, such as:
- Gloves
- Packaging, such as zip top bags or cups
- Napkins and utensils
- Paper towels or wipes for classrooms
Be sure to check out the space first to see if you have the capacity to take it on.
3. Labor
It’s best to plan out how much more labor you will need to execute the program and make a plan to account for that.
If a school is chronically short staffed, it will be difficult for that school to find time to prepare fresh fruits and vegetables for this program, and you might not find a way to make it work.
While you can purchase pre-cut produce, the options are limited, turn bad faster, and are more expensive.
Volunteers are also an option, but less reliable than regularly scheduled personnel. On the other hand, the benefit of volunteers is that you can put more money into purchasing produce.
4. Low Fat Dip
You can only offer dip with vegetables (no fruit dip). You can serve no more than 2 tablespoons per student, and it must be low fat, per the FDA definition.
“Low fat” means less than 3g of fat per 1 oz serving. This is NOT the same thing as “reduced fat” or “lite”, which is more prevalent on the market.
Since it’s harder to find, you may have to settle for fat-free, unless you plan on making it homemade. Reach out to your distributor for options.
5. Purchasing Contract
Many schools opt to use their commodity allowance with domestic produce through a DOD contract. Produce for the FFVP cannot use this contract for its purchases.
Instead, a separate produce contract needs to be established. This may already exist if you purchase produce outside of the DOD contract; however, you would want to let your produce vendor know your updated needs.
You may be able to get away with doing micro purchases or small purchases, depending on your purchasing thresholds.
6. Invoicing
The easiest (and often state-required) way to handle the claim for reimbursement is to have FFVP items on a separate invoice.
This requires you set up a separate PO for FFVP items, order the items separately, and request the vendor invoice you separately.
Don’t forget this would apply to produce, as well as vegetable dip and any other disposable supplies.
7. Nutrition Education
USDA strongly encourages a nutrition education component with the program. Some states will all but require it, so be prepared to incorporate it somehow.
Nutrition education is not an allowable expense for the program, so you’ll need to rely on free or low-cost resources. Check out USDA nutrition education resources, your local extension office, a health education teacher, or make your own.
Summary
If after careful consideration you decide your school is ready for the Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Program, the next step is to apply with your state agency. Each state has a different timeline and process for applying, so reach out to them for next steps.
Good luck! It’s a great program to offer students!
