1. Commodity Processing: The considerations behind the decision Andrea Perkins Forsyth County Schools aperkins@forsyth.k12.ga.us 770-888-3473 x202426

2. Have you ever requested all kinds of USDA foods to spend your PAL $.. and then had to figure out where to store it and how to use it up in menus... before it expired?

3. Considerations Meal Costs Participation Labor Using USDA PAL $ Various Delivery & Payment Methods

4. Cost of Time to manage the process Tracking & Bookkeeping Inventory & USDA received reports Procurement

5. Items that Forsyth processes Peanut butter into sandwiches Chicken into nuggets & patties Beef into crumbles, meatballs, burgers & breaded steak Turkey into sandwich meats, roasts, turkey & gravy, sausage crumbles White Potatoes into crinkle cuts & tots Sweet Potatoes into wedges & tots

6. Tomatoes into salsa, sauces & catsup Apples into flavored applesauce cups Cheese into 6 types of pizza, breakfast items and calzones Cheese into American, Swiss, and pepperjack slices, cheddar & mozzarella shreds, and shelf-stable cheese sauces

7. Tracking Tools Almost all commodity processors are connected with 2 web-based sites to track usage: www.K12 Foodservice.com www.ProcessorLink.com

8. K12Foodservice.com

9. Month-by-month usage in $ and #

10. By Item Usage in Lbs, $, and cases

11. By School, Invoice # and Item

12. ProcessorLink.com

13. By month, item, LBS

14. Some downsides Need to project quantities needed carefully Need to do procurement early to designate processor when ordering commodities

15. Having many entrees tied to processed commodities decreases some flexibility with menu planning & frequency Poultry items selected need to have balanced white/dark usage or you end up with too much of one and not enough of the other

16. Needs someone to stay on top of menu needs, usage, tracking, and new processors & new items Call me, I’m always willing to help if I can Andrea Perkins 770-888-3473 x202426 aperkins@forsyth.k12.ga.us