Maryann Durrant (USBE):
Menu records are vital on the food program. You might have served a beautiful meal that was nutritious and met the meal pattern, but if you don’t have the required documentation from that meal, you would be unable to claim the meal for reimbursement.
There are two different types of menu records that you could keep to fulfill the requirements on the food program. You do NOT need to keep both records, you get to choose which one you maintain. First off, let’s discuss the difference between the production record and the detailed menu record. Both the production record and the detailed menu record is a place for you to document the date, meal type, components served, in what amount, the planned number of children by age category and the served number of children by age category. The major difference is that production records provide a space for you to calculate how much food is needed to meet the serving size requirements. It also includes a place for the used quantity, which is helpful so you know how much was actually served.
The detailed menu record only contains the basic required information. You are welcome to use whichever record works best for you and your center. Whether or not you’re using the production record, you do have to demonstrate that you’ve served a sufficient quantity of food to meet the meal pattern minimum requirements. When we come to do a review, we will check this by comparing your menu records to the receipts of the food you purchased. If you purchased an insufficient amount of food to meet the minimum portion sizes, we will have to take money back. You can refer to the training on the Food Buying Guide to learn how to plan for and purchase enough food to meet the meal pattern for all of the meals that you serve.
Whether you choose to keep production records or detailed menu records, you are required to have this information recorded for each meal that you claim. If we come out on a review and you don’t have this information for each meal that you claim, we would need to take back the money that you received for that meal. You need to include the date, a detailed menu describing the components, the portion sizes planned separated by age group, the total number of children planned by age, the total number of children served by age and if applicable, the number of adults served and substitutions.
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