The Summer Food Service Program (SFSP) is a supplemental meal program sponsored by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) and managed by Community Food and Nutrition Assistance (CFNA) program within the Department of Health and Senior Services (DHSS). The program provides funding that allows community groups to serve meals at various feeding sites throughout the summer months when school is not in session, to children who otherwise may go hungry or lack adequate nutrition. Food safety and sanitation inspections are conducted by Local Public Health Agency (LPHA) staff of food preparation sites and meal service locations. Many of these sites are located at schools, churches, parks, and children’s camps.
FAQs
Inspection Report
When inspecting these SFSP sites, inspectors will conduct a routine food safety and sanitation inspection. Staff preparing foods should follow safe food handling practices. Inspectors should focus on items such as cooking and reheating temperatures, cooling procedures, hot and cold-holding temperatures, cross-contamination issues, personal hygiene, proper hand-washing practices and food storage practices. Follow-up inspections shall be performed to verify correction of critical violations that were not corrected on-site during the initial inspection. Follow-up inspections should be conducted as required in the agency’s written plan or program policies and procedures.
Completed inspections reports are to be submitted to DHSS within 2 weeks of the inspection. Mail the inspection report to: DHSS, Bureau of Environmental Health Services (BEHS), Attn: Summer Food Service Program, P.O. Box 570, Jefferson City, MO, 65102-0570. BEHS will review the inspection report to assure that it was completed according to the participation agreement. All fields on the inspection report should be completed. Some of the more important fields are: the facility name, address, inspection date and "time in-time out" and signature. The inspector should note the food items served and food temperatures must be recorded on the inspection report in the chart provided. The inspection time shall be a minimum of 30 minutes for food preparation sites and an unobligated timeframe for service sites. The inspection report is to be completed on the DHSS Summer Food inspection report form (E6.39). This form can be used for all inspection types: routine, follow-up and attempted inspections. An attempted inspection may be documented on a Sanitation Observation form (E6.07). These forms can be ordered through the DHSS warehouse.
For Technical questions regarding an inspection site contact Anne Strope and sanitation questions to Ann Winkler, Retail Food Safety Manager at (573) 751-6095.
Participation Agreements
Participation Agreements to conduct inspections are entered into between DHSS and LPHAs. Participation agreements (PA) contain the contract deliverables and the scope of work. All PAs begin on May 15th and continue through September 15th; however, some sites may not begin their food service on May 15th or continue with their service through September 15th.
To assure the safe preparation and service of food, agencies are encouraged to inspect participating sites early in their participation. The PA recognizes the importance of an early inspection and the risks associated with food preparation as opposed to just food service. There are various levels of reimbursement in the PA for when the inspection is performed by the LPHA, and whether the site prepares food or only serves food.
Reimbursement
Reimbursement amounts are specified in the participation agreement. Participating agencies are reimbursed for routine inspections, follow-up inspections and in some instances attempted inspections. Agencies with questions about reimbursement should contact the Summer Food Program, at (573) 751-6095 or email, BEHS.SUMMERFOOD@health.mo.gov.
When billing DHSS for services, submit one invoice for all inspections on a Vendor Request for Payment, DH-38. The vendor request for payment form is available electronically at Forms and Applications. Do not use any other form, to request payment. All invoices must be received by the Bureau of Environmental Health Services (BEHS) by October 15th.
For questions regarding reimbursement or payment, contact the Summer Food Program, at 573-751-6095 or email, BEHS.SUMMERFOOD@health.mo.gov.