Sunflower seed butter available for order

Next year, South Dakota schools can order sunflower seed butter (Sun Butter®) via the USDA Food Distribution Program. The product is an alternative to peanut butter for students with peanut allergies.

The USDA’s Food and Nutrition Services has developed the guidance below to address questions about the allergy potential of sunflower seed butter. 

Q: Is sunflower butter “more safe” for children than peanut butter?

A: To begin to answer this question, we turn to the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology, who state that 90 percent of all food allergic reactions are caused by eight types of foods known as the “big eight” -- peanuts, tree nuts, eggs, cow’s milk, soybean, fish, crustaceans, and wheat. They point out that a “second eight” category of food allergens exists, accounting for the other 10 percent of food allergic reactions.  This second eight category includes seed allergens -- sunflower seeds, sesame seeds, cottonseed, and poppy. 

Those children whose allergy is limited to peanuts could in many cases substitute sunflower seed butter, without the dangers of severe allergic reactions.  However, no food that has the potential to cause an allergic reaction is 100 percent safe.

It should be recognized that sunflower seed butter can still potentially cause an allergic reaction in a limited number of children, although there would be a lower level of risk associated with consuming it compared to consuming peanut butter. Therefore, sunflower seed butter may be considered as a relatively safe substitute for peanut butter in certain circumstances, and can meet children’s consumption requirements as a non-meat, high-protein peanut butter alternative. 

Plan to attend important school nutrition events

Below is a list of pertinent upcoming events. Contact Child and Adult Nutrition Services at (605) 773-3413 for information.  

• June 20-25 Certification Institute for Child Nutrition Personnel, Augustana College, Sioux Falls
• June 28-30 2004 Team Nutrition Summer Workshop -- Making it Happen!  Reverse the Trends: Creating a Healthy School Nutrition Environment for Students, Augustana College, Sioux Falls
• July 25-28 American School Food Service Association National Conference, Indianapolis, Ind.
• Aug 3-6 CANS/SDSFSA Annual “Back to School” Conference and Industry Seminar, Ramkota Inn, Aberdeen

May claims for reimbursement and proration

Important reminder: The proration of the state matching funds for the National School Lunch Program for public schools is based on the lunches served, as reported on the claims for reimbursement. May claims that have been filed by June 10 and paid are considered in that proration. Timely submission of the school year’s claims will ensure that there is adequate time to resolve any problems before the proration is run. Thank you to those who already have submitted their claims.

Child and Adult Nutrition Services uses the required matching funds mainly to cover the cost of transportation and storage of commodities for public schools. The rest of the money is then prorated among the public schools that participate in the National School Lunch Program. The proration check will come from the State Auditor’s Office. The allocation of these funds is determined by obtaining a percentage of the number of lunches served in your school compared to the total lunches served for all public schools. 

This money is to be receipted into the agency’s school meals program funds, revenue code #3810.  The proration will be run by June 15 and checks mailed some time after that. 

Please contact Bob Adams at (605) 773-3456 or Sandra Kangas at (605) 773-4746 with questions about the proration. 

Quick Q&A on monthly reimbursement payments

Two commonly asked questions regarding the state’s process for notifying schools of monthly reimbursement payments for Child Nutrition Programs include:

1) Why are the notices of amount sent out?

2) Why are the notices of amount sent out separately?

Answer #1: Notices of the amount that should be in your payment are sent out to make sure that the amount scheduled in your payment matches what you sent in as a claim, as well as to be compared against what is received. This should serve as a control that your claims are processed correctly.

Answer #2: Notice of amounts are sent separately from the checks (vouchers), because the checks go out from the Auditor’s Office rather than from Department of Education as was the practice in the past.

CANS to go online

In May, Child and Adult Nutrition Services began to work through a lengthy process to move management of the nutrition and distribution programs to an Internet-based system. The plan is to include filing and processing claims, placing commodity orders, and maintaining agreements. The online process will not be ready by fall 2004. It will be based on available federal funds and will progress in phases. 

In July, CANS and the contractor will work with a select number of “customers” to determine the needs of school personnel as well as state office needs. One of the project’s main goals is to empower schools to have ready access to their information.  If you have suggestions or concerns, please forward them to Child and Adult Nutrition Services.