PartnersLearning Support : Minnesota Department of Education

Partners

Partners

The Minnesota Department of Education Food and Nutrition Service works closely with key stakeholders to administer the USDA Food Distribution Program. We strive to create partnerships with allied industry groups; food brokers, distributors, and manufacturers; and schools participating in the National School Lunch Program to distribute domestic commodities in Minnesota.

The USDA Food Distribution Program provides nutritious foods to children, supports American farmers and removes surplus commodities from the market. Locally, Minnesota Food and Nutrition Service surveys school food authorities (SFAs) based on preferences, orders commodities from USDA and coordinates distribution to SFAs throughout the school year.

Partners enhance the selection, ordering and distribution of commodities within their area of expertise. Collaboration between partners results in successful distribution of commodities to SFAs, which incorporate commodities in meals that meet requirements of the National School Lunch Program.

*USDA Commodity Food Network
*By clicking on links on this page, you may leave the MDE Web site. See our copyright notice for our disclaimer regarding these links.

Allied Industry Groups


Minnesota Food Distribution Program seeks information to enhance activities of USDA nutrition assistance programs. Allied Industry Groups can provide research, promotional, and educational information to consumers and industry. Groups range from research and promotion councils that market specific commodities to professional organizations.

Featured link to Minnesota Research and Promotion Councils

*http://www.mda.state.mn.us/ams/councils/default.htm

Featured link to The Food and Nutrition Information Center (FNIC) for information about national groups and organizations

*http://www.nal.usda.gov/fnic/etext/000024.html

*By selecting this link, you will be leaving the MDE Web site. See our copyright notice at the bottom of the page for our disclaimer regarding these links.



Brokers


Minnesota Food Brokers play an important role in bringing K-12 school food products to the market place. The broker’s job is to please both the manufacturers they represent as well as the buyer of the product.

The broker’s listed below can assist schools with negotiating the best deal, provide marketing tools to promote food products, ensure that the products are available, and assist with resolving any product quality issues. Use the contact information provided, to inquire about which manufacturers a broker represents.


Minnesota Food Brokers PDF Version 66Kb (1/4/08)
     Minnesota Food Brokers represent a Rebate Product Manufacturer or a Fee-for-Service Processing Manufacturer participating in the Minnesota Department of Education (MDE) Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) Food Distribution Program (FDP).

Distributors


All schools participating in the Minnesota Food Distribution Program must select an approved commercial foodservice distributor for the delivery of Regular USDA packaged commodities.

To select your Regular commodity distributor, go to the CLiCS "Customers" screen and select the appropriate commercial foodservice distributor for SY 2006. The final date to select a regular commodity distributor is May 16, 2005.

Click the link below to view the list of approved commercial foodservice distributors.


CLiCS User Guide for Distributors of USDA Commodities to Minnesota Schools PDF Version 405Kb (6/26/08) Native Version 1Mb (6/26/08)
     Information on the CLiCS website screens for Food Distribution Program (FDP) distributors serving Minnesota schools. Includes Distributor User ID Request and Delete forms to manage access to their CLiCS account.
Regular Commodity Food Service Distributors PDF Version 50Kb (6/16/08) Native Version 40Kb (6/16/08)
     List of Food Distribution Program (FDP) Regular Commodity Food Service Distributors serving Minnesota schools with contact information for School Year 2008-2009.

Manufacturers


This year, CLiCS Preference Survey 4 features only "Processed" commodities. Once a commodity and processor are identified, CLiCS Preference Survey 4 requires that the total quantity of pounds of the commodity to be diverted, for the entire school year, be entered into the month of "July". Then select the corresponding processor from the drop down box and save. The additional steps required to divert commodities for processing are explained in the Steps to Divert USDA Commodities to a processor, which is found under Resources on the Food Distribution Program web page.

The Minnesota Rebate Program allows schools to utilize commodity entitlement through a state administered rebate system. Currently, 35 manufacturers are approved offering over 980 products. The following file lists the approved products by manufacturer:


Minnesota Approved Rebate Products PDF Version 100Kb (7/11/07)
     Minnesota Approved Rebate Products is a list of over 925 products grouped by Minnesota Rebate Product Manufacturer.
Minnesota Rebate Product Manufacturers PDF Version 55Kb (7/11/07)
     Minnesota Rebate Product Manufacturers participating in the Minnesota Department of Education (MDE) Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) Food Distribution Program (FDP) rebate system.
User Guide for Manufacturers - CLiCS PDF Version 1Mb (12/12/05)