Considering commodities

The annual Commodities Expo, sponsored by the Minnesota School Foodservice Directors Group, provides face-to-face opportunity for school foodservice directors to sample products, receive updates on the state’s rebate program.

When the Minnesota Department of Education-Food and Nutrition Service division decided to not host another commodities event to showcase USDA-rebatable food products, the Minnesota School Foodservice Directors Group thought it would be a good idea to take it over.

That was four years ago, and each year, the annual Commodity Food Expo at the Civic Center in St. Cloud is well attended by school foodservice directors and their employees. St. Cloud is a good location, close enough to the Twin Cities, but, more importantly, convenient for the state’s smaller districts that might otherwise be unable to sample products. “It’s the place where directors can come and get one-on-one assistance, get face-to-face,” said Colette Pohlkamp, director of foodservice for the Brainerd school district. Pohlkamp is the exhibit chair for the Minnesota School Nutrition Association’s Annual Conference, so having her organize the commodity show and its exhibitors seemed like a logical fit. “It’s about the relationships and making contacts.”

With school foodservice in particular, developing relationships with manufacturers, distributors and sales reps is particularly important—aligning the changing commodities and product landscape with perpetually fluctuating school budgets is challenging work. Toss into that mix the USDA rebate program that each district must work with could cause a skull-busting headache.

Schools receive a commodity entitlement from the federal government based on the school’s student participation in the school’s lunch program. That money is “non-cash,” meaning no money changes hands, but schools can spend the money in different ways, including purchasing Regular (“brown box”) USDA Commodities, such as cheese, ground beef, canned fruit and vegetables and other basics. Schools can divert brown box commodities (such as ground beef) to a processor, but pay any extra fees for that processing.

The schools can, through the state’s Rebate Program, also purchase products made with brown box commodities straight from the manufacturer or distributor. What products are out there? Plenty. From chicken nuggets and macaroni and cheese from Tyson and Land O’ Lakes, respectively, to the various sweet potato sides from Lamb Weston and corn chips from Barrel O’ Fun. The rebate to the school is determined by just how much—or how many—of the brown box commodities are used in the product.

The Bosco’s cheese-stuffed breadstick earns a school reimbursement for the cheese, the Schumacher hamburger patties because of the USDA beef used, and the Barrel O’ Fun chips because they are made with whole corn grain, rather than corn meal that other manufacturers use

The show gave attendees the opportunity to sample products spread amongst roughly 40 booths at the show. Attendance was brisk and consistent, with a count of more than 250 through the door with a full three hours remaining in the five-hour session (Pohlkamp had hard evidence, she saved the backings from each name tag for a hand count).

It’s becoming a more important annual event as districts deal with changing financial situations. The option to buy prepared products is necessary for those school districts that are short on staff or funding (or both) to prepare foods from scratch with raw product, Pohlkamp said, adding that her district has the ability to prepare most everything from scratch, right down to macaroni and cheese, “but another district might have to buy frozen. Sometimes the convenience fits the need of the district.”