Official Seal of the California Department of Education

Application

School Nutrition Programs
Meal Pattern Waiver During Natural Disaster or Other
Unanticipated School Closure

Nutrition Services Division

Per Title 7 Code of Federal Regulations (7 CFR) 210.10(m)(4), School Nutrition Program (SNP) Operators may temporarily serve meals for reimbursement that do not meet the meal pattern requirements due to a natural disaster or other catastrophe. Additionally, per California Education Code Section 49505(b), school districts and county offices of education participating in the federal meal programs may be exempted from meeting the meal pattern requirements as a result of a state or federally declared disaster. In order to claim reimbursement for meals served though the federal SNPs that do not meet the meal pattern requirements, SNP Operators must have an approved SNP Meal Pattern Waiver (MPW) on file with the California Department of Education (CDE) for the flexibilities needed. SNP Operators may submit a request to the CDE to waive one or more of the meal pattern requirements for the following SNPs:
School Breakfast Program (SBP)
National School Lunch Program (NSLP)
Seamless Summer Option (SSO)
You are required to answer all questions in this application. The application will take approximately 20 minutes to complete. For assistance with completing this application, please contact the CDE SNP Team by email at SNPInfo@cde.ca.gov.

After applying, you may be contacted to provide further details about the use of this waiver, in addition to the details requested in this application.
Note

Once approved, the flexibilities should be used on a temporary basis only to alleviate issues arising from a disaster or other emergency.

If you are unable to meet the meal pattern requirements for fluid milk only, then you may use the flexibilities allowed per 7
CFR 210.10(d)(2)(i) which state that if emergency conditions temporarily prevent a program operator that normally has a supply of fluid milk from obtaining delivery of that milk, the CDE may allow the operator to provide meals with an alternate form of fluid milk or without fluid milk. In order to request use of the fluid milk flexibility, please complete this SNP MPW application. An approved SNP MPW is required in order to claim reimbursement for meals that do not meet the milk requirements of the federal SNPs.
Acknowledgement

By submitting this SNP MPW Application for one or more of the specified meal pattern requirements listed above, you acknowledge that you understand that the flexibilities are to be used on a temporary basis.
Effective Dates

Flexibilities are available from the date of an emergency or, if applicable, the date a state or federal disaster is declared.

If you need to waive another program or additional meal pattern option, submit another SNP MPW application.
Agency Information
Provide one or both of the following identification numbers.
  
  
Vendor Number may include 5 digits and a letter Z at the end (example: 12345Z) or 4 digits with a letter C