[Code of Federal Regulations]
[Title 7, Volume 4]
[Revised as of January 1, 2004]
From the U.S. Government Printing Office via GPO Access
[CITE: 7CFR225.7]

[Page 132-134]
 
                          TITLE 7--AGRICULTURE
 
    CHAPTER II--FOOD AND NUTRITION SERVICE, DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
 
PART 225_SUMMER FOOD SERVICE PROGRAM--Table of Contents
 
                    Subpart B_State Agency Provisions
 
Sec.  225.7  Program monitoring and assistance.

    (a) Training. Prior to the beginning of Program operations, each 
State agency shall make available training in all necessary areas of 
Program administration to sponsor personnel, food service management 
company representatives, auditors, and health inspectors who will 
participate in the Program in that State. Prior to Program operations, 
the State agency shall ensure that the sponsor's supervisory personnel 
responsible for the food service receive training in all necessary areas 
of Program administration and operations. This training shall reflect 
the fact that individual sponsors or groups of sponsors require 
different levels and areas of Program training. State agencies are 
encouraged to utilize in such training, and in the training of site 
personnel, sponsor personnel who have previously participated in the 
Program. Training should be made available at convenient locations. 
State agencies are not required to conduct this training for sponsors 
operating the Program during unanticipated school closures during the 
period from October through April (or at any time of the year in an area 
with a continuous school calendar).
    (b) Program materials. Each State agency shall develop and make 
available all necessary Program materials in sufficient time to enable 
applicant sponsors to prepare adequately for the Program.
    (c) Food specifications and meal quality standards. With the 
assistance of the Department, each State agency shall develop and make 
available to all sponsors minimum food specifications and model meal 
quality standards which shall become part of all contracts between 
vended sponsors and food service management companies.
    (d) Program monitoring and assistance. The State agency shall 
conduct Program monitoring and provide Program assistance according to 
the following provisions:
    (1) Pre-approval visits. The State agency shall conduct pre-approval 
visits of sponsors and sites, as specified below, to assess the 
applicant sponsor's or site's potential for successful Program 
operations and to verify information provided in the application. The 
State agency shall visit prior to approval:
    (i) All applicant sponsors which did not participate in the program 
in the prior year. However, if a sponsor is a school food authority, has 
been reviewed by the State agency under the National School Lunch 
Program during the preceding 12 months, and had no significant 
deficiencies noted in that review, a pre-approval visit may be conducted 
at the discretion of the State agency. In addition, pre-approval visits 
of sponsors proposing to operate the Program during unanticipated school 
closures during the period from October through April (or at any time

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of the year in an area with a continuous school calendar) may be 
conducted at the discretion of the State agency;
    (ii) All applicant sponsors which, as a result of operational 
problems noted in the prior year, the State agency has determined need a 
pre-approval visit; and
    (iii) All sites which the State agency has determined need a pre-
approval visit.
    (2) Sponsor and site reviews--(i) General. The State agency must 
review sponsors and sites to ensure compliance with Program regulations, 
the Department's non-discrimination regulations (7 CFR part 15) and any 
other applicable instructions issued by the Department. In determining 
which sponsors and sites to review, the State agency must, at a minimum, 
consider the sponsors' and sites' previous participation in the Program, 
their current and previous Program performance, and the results of 
previous reviews of the sponsor and sites. When the same school food 
authority personnel administer this Program as well as the National 
School Lunch Program (7 CFR part 210), the State agency is not required 
to conduct a review of the Program in the same year in which the 
National School Lunch Program operations have been reviewed and 
determined to be satisfactory. Reviews shall be conducted as follows:
    (ii) Frequency and number of required reviews. State agencies shall:
    (A) Conduct a review of every new sponsor at least once during the 
first year of operation;
    (B) Annually review a number of sponsors whose program 
reimbursements, in the aggregate, accounted for at least one-half of the 
total program meal reimbursements in the State in the prior year;
    (C) Annually review every sponsor which experienced significant 
operational problems in the prior year;
    (D) Review each sponsor at least once every three years; and
    (E) As part of each sponsor review, conduct reviews of at least 10 
percent of each sponsor's sites, or one site, whichever number is 
greater.
    (3) Follow-up reviews. The State agency shall conduct follow-up 
reviews of sponsors and sites as necessary.
    (4) Monitoring system. Each State agency shall develop and implement 
a monitoring system to ensure that sponsors, including site personnel, 
and the sponsor's food service management company, if applicable, 
immediately receive a copy of any review reports which indicate Program 
violations and which could result in a Program disallowance.
    (5) Records. Documentation of Program assistance and the results of 
such assistance shall be maintained on file by the State agency.
    (6) Food service management company facility visits. As a part of 
the review of any vended sponsor which contracts for the preparation of 
meals, the State agency shall inspect the food service management 
company's facilities. Each State agency shall establish an order of 
priority for visiting facilities at which food is prepared for the 
Program. The State agency shall respond promptly to complaints 
concerning facilities. If a food service management company fails to 
correct violations noted by the State agency during a review, the State 
agency shall notify the sponsor and the food service management company 
that reimbursement shall not be paid for meals prepared by the food 
service management company after a date specified in the notification. 
Funds provided for in Sec.  225.5(f) may be used for conducting food 
service management company facility inspections.
    (7) Forms for reviews by sponsors. Each State agency shall develop 
and provide monitor review forms to all approved sponsors. These forms 
shall be completed by sponsor monitors. The monitor review form shall 
include, but not be limited to, the time of the reviewer's arrival and 
departure, the site supervisor's signature, a certification statement to 
be signed by the monitor, the number of meals prepared or delivered, the 
number of meals served to children, the deficiencies noted, the 
corrective actions taken by the sponsor, and the date of such actions.
    (8) Statistical monitoring. State agencies may use statistical 
monitoring

[[Page 134]]

procedures in lieu of the site monitoring requirements prescribed in 
paragraph (d)(2) of this section to accomplish the monitoring and 
technical assistance aspects of the Program. State agencies which use 
statistical monitoring procedures may use the findings in evaluating 
claims for reimbursement. Statistical monitoring may be used for some or 
all of a State's sponsors. Use of statistical monitoring does not 
eliminate the requirements for reviewing sponsors as specified in 
paragraph (d)(2) of this section.
    (9) Corrective actions. Corrective actions which the State agency 
may take when Program violations are observed during the conduct of a 
review are discussed in Sec.  225.11. The State agency shall conduct 
follow-up reviews as appropriate when corrective actions are required.
    (e) Other facility inspections and meal quality tests. In addition 
to those inspections required by paragraph (d)(6) of this section, the 
State agency may also conduct, or arrange to have conducted: inspections 
of self-preparation and vended sponsors' food preparation facilities; 
inspections of food service sites; and meal quality tests. The 
procedures for carrying out these inspections and tests shall be 
consistent with procedures used by local health authorities. For 
inspections of food service management companies' facilities not 
conducted by State agency personnel, copies of the results shall be 
provided to the State agency. The company and the sponsor shall also 
immediately receive a copy of the results of these inspections when 
corrective action is required. If a food service management company 
fails to correct violations noted by the State agency during a review, 
the State agency shall notify the sponsor and the food service 
management company that reimbursement shall not be paid for meals 
prepared by the food service management company after a date specified 
in the notification. Funds provided for in Sec.  225.5(f) may be used 
for conducting these inspections and tests.
    (f) Financial management. Each State agency shall establish a 
financial management system, in accordance with the Department's Uniform 
Financial Assistance Regulations (7 CFR part 3015) and FNS guidance, to 
identify allowable Program costs and to establish standards for sponsor 
recordkeeping and reporting. The State agency shall provide guidance on 
these financial management standards to each sponsor.
    (g) Nondiscrimination. (1) Each State agency shall comply with all 
requirements of title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, title IX of 
the Education Amendments of 1972, section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act 
of 1973, the Age Discrimination Act of 1975, and the Department's 
regulations concerning nondiscrimination (7 CFR parts 15, 15a and 15b), 
including requirements for racial and ethnic participation data 
collection, public notification of the nondiscrimination policy, and 
reviews to assure compliance with such policy, to the end that no person 
shall, on the grounds of race, color, national origin, sex, age, or 
handicap, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, 
or be otherwise subjected to discrimination under, the Program.
    (2) Complaints of discrimination filed by applicants or participants 
shall be referred to FNS or the Secretary of Agriculture, Washington, DC 
20250. A State agency which has an established grievance or complaint 
handling procedure may resolve sex and handicap discrimination 
complaints before referring a report to FNS.

[54 FR 18208, Apr. 27, 1989, as amended at 55 FR 13468, Apr. 10, 1990; 
64 FR 72485, Dec. 28, 1999; 64 FR 72898, Dec. 29, 1999]