1. CDE Office of School Nutrition Mission
Together We Can
CDE Vision
All students graduate ready for college and careers, and are prepared to be productive citizens of Colorado.
CDE Office of School Nutrition Mission
The Office of School Nutrition is committed to ensuring all school- aged children have equal access to healthy meals by supporting, training, and connecting Colorado’s child nutrition community.

2. USDA Nondiscrimination Statement
In accordance with Federal civil rights law and U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) civil rights regulations and policies, the USDA, its Agencies, offices, and employees, and institutions participating in or administering USDA programs are prohibited from discriminating based on race, color, national origin, sex, disability, age, or reprisal or retaliation for prior civil rights activity in any program or activity conducted or funded by USDA.
Persons with disabilities who require alternative means of communication for program information (e.g. Braille, large print, audiotape, American Sign Language, etc.), should contact the Agency (State or local) where they applied for benefits. Individuals who are deaf, hard of hearing or have speech disabilities may contact USDA through the Federal Relay Service at (800) Additionally, program information may be made available in languages other than English.
To file a program complaint of discrimination, complete the USDA Program Discrimination Complaint Form, (AD-3027) found online at: How to File a Complaint and at any USDA office, or write a letter addressed to USDA and provide in the letter all of the information requested in the form. To request a copy of the complaint form, call (866) Submit your completed form or letter to USDA by:
(1) mail: U.S. Department of Agriculture
Office of the Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights
1400 Independence Avenue, SW
Washington, D.C ;
(2) fax: (202) ; or
(3)
This institution is an equal opportunity provider.

3. Offer vs. Serve National School Lunch Program
Welcome to the Colorado Department of Education School Nutrition Unit’s training on Offer vs. Serve National School Lunch Program.
This training will take approximately X minutes to complete with quiz questions at the end.
Let’s take a minute to review the navigation controls. In the top right corner, there is a resources tab. This is where you’ll find resources related to this training. On the left side, you’ll see a menu panel with notes. You can follow along using the notes if you like. Please refrain from navigating back and forth using the menu. Instead, use the next and previous arrows in the bottom right corner. In the bottom left corner there is an audio control button for you to adjust the volume to your needs, as well as a pause and play button.
Click Next to get started!

4. Select Offer versus Serve scenarios that show a reimbursable meal.
Learning Objectives
Recall meal pattern requirements by age grade group for the National School Lunch Program.
Select Offer versus Serve scenarios that show a reimbursable meal.
Professional Standards
30 minutes of training
Key Area: 2000
Topic: 2200
By the end of this training, you will be able to define recall meal pattern requirements by age grade group for the National School Lunch Program and select Offer versus Serve scenarios that show a reimbursable meal.
You will earn X minutes of training in the key area of X under the topic X. The certificate will be obtained by successful (80%) completion of the quiz at the end of the training.

5. National School Lunch Program Meal Pattern Requirements
12/5/2019
National School Lunch Program Meal Pattern Requirements
Before we dive into Offer vs. Serve (OVS) we will provide a brief review of the meal pattern requirements. This is important to note all of the requirements that the student must be offered regardless of implementation of OVS. We will discuss the meal patterns so we will know all of the components and items we will be referencing when using OVS.

6. Amount of Food Per Week (Minimum per day)
Lunch Meal Pattern
Meal Pattern
Amount of Food Per Week (Minimum per day)
5-day Week
Grades K - 5
Grades 6 – 8
Grades
Fruit (cup)
2 ½ (½)
5 (1)
Vegetables (cup)
3 ¾ (¾)
Dark green
Red/Orange
1 ¼
Beans/Peas (Legumes)
Starchy
Other
Additional to reach total 1
1 ½
Grains (oz. eq)
8-9 (1)
8-10 (1)
10-12 (2)
Meat/Meat Alternate (oz. eq)
9-10 (1)
Fluid Milk (cup)
5(1)
The National School Lunch Program (NSLP) lunch meal pattern requires daily and weekly amounts of all 5 components based on three different grade levels.
This chart shows the requirements for a 5-day school-week. Please refer to the Short and Long Week Calculations for meal pattern requirements for schools with different week lengths. The Short and Long Week Calculations and NSLP meal pattern chart can be found in the resources section.
In Colorado, we follow a food based menu planning system, meaning you are required to meet the meal pattern daily and weekly offerings rather than conduct a nutrient analysis. In this table, the number in the parenthesis is the daily requirement while the number outside of the parenthesis is the weekly requirement. Looking at grains for the K-5 age grade group, we see that 1 oz. eq. is required per day and 8-9 oz. eq. is required over the course of a week which means on more day than one, you will need to serve more than the daily minimum.
Common issues we see on review are inadequate quantities of grains and meat/meat alternate (M/MA) and less with fruit/vegetable.

7. Age/Grade Calorie Ranges
Grade: K-5
Age: 5-10
Range:
Grade: 6-8
Age: 11-13
Range:
Grade: 9-12
Age: 14-18
Range:
Schools are allowed to use the same lunch meal pattern for students in grades K-8 because food quantity requirements for the age/grade groups K-5 and 6-8 are comparable and the calorie ranges overlap ( ).
There is no calorie overlap for grades 6-8 and 9-12 and therefore a 6-12 menu is not allowable.
Like breakfast, on any given day, the calorie level for the meal may fall outside the minimum or maximum levels, this is acceptable as long as the average number of calories for the week is within the required range.
Overlap:

8. Dietary Specifications
12/5/2019
Dietary Specifications
Zero grams of trans fat per portion
Saturated Fat ≤10%
Grade Group
K – 5
6 – 8
9 - 12
Calories
600 – 700
Sodium
≤ 1,230
≤ 1,360
≤ 1,420
This slide details the lunch dietary specifications. The sodium limits for Target One are shown in this chart. Due to the recent USDA menu planning flexibilities, SFAs can continue to implement target one goals.
Other dietary specifications that school must meet include: 0 grams trans fat per portion and saturated fat must be less than or equal to 10%.
As with breakfast, concentrate first on meeting meal pattern requirements. A nutrient analysis is not required.

9. Calculating Weekly Ranges
12/5/2019
Calculating Weekly Ranges
Monday
Tuesday
Wednesday
Thursday
Friday
Mac & cheese with a roll
2 Grains
1 M/MA
Super Sloppy Joe
Cheese pan pizza
Stir Fry
2 Grain
Bronco Burger
Ham and cheese sandwich
2 M/MA
Turkey and cheese sandwich
Meatball Submarine
Peanut butter and jelly sandwich
Grilled chicken sandwich
Min
1 Grain
Max
If you have more than one entrée choice, you’ll need to monitor your daily and weekly food contribution ranges for grains and meats. This is because the entrees may provide different crediting of these components, thus creating a weekly range, which must meet the weekly requirements we just reviewed.
To determine the weekly minimum, add the minimum contribution from each entree amount from each day and you get 9 oz. equivalents of grain for the week. To determine the weekly maximum, add the maximum amount from each day and you get 10 oz. equivalents for the week. Therefore the grain range for this week is 9 – 10 oz. equivalents. The minimum of the range must meet the minimum weekly requirement described in the meal pattern requirements for each age/grade group.
Based on this menu, the weekly M/MA requirements were not met for any age/grade group.
Grain: 10 servings
M/MA: 5 servings 9

10. Multiple Serving Lines- Vegetable Subgroups
There is no daily subgroup requirement
Each serving line must offer all the vegetable subgroups weekly
If a school serves two of the weekly subgroups the same day and the student may choose only one:
Must offer both of these subgroups to students on an additional day
Vegetable subgroups do not need to be offered in any specific sequence during the week. The menu planner decides when/how to offer them over the course of the week. Over the course of the week, the required amount of each subgroup must be met, but on any given day there are no specific subgroup requirements.
Since there is no daily subgroup requirement, schools may choose what combinations of vegetable subgroups to offer each day. So what happens if a school plans a menu that serves two of the weekly subgroups on the same day and the student may choose only one of these subgroups? For example, if a school serves cherry tomatoes (from red and orange subgroup) and cauliflower (from other veggies) and the student may only choose cauliflower from the salad bar then both of these subgroups have to be offered an additional day- i.e. a red orange veggie and other veggie
This is an issue, because the school needs to make each of the subgroups available to all children during the week; the child should not have to choose 1 subgroup over another on a single day, and lose out on any remaining opportunity to select from the other subgroup. For
Therefore, schools need to make the subgroups where there is a conflict, available for student selection on an additional day.

11. Offer vs. Serve National School Lunch Program
12/5/2019
Offer vs. Serve National School Lunch Program
Offer vs. Serve= OVS

12. What is Offer versus Serve (OVS)?
Concept that applies to menu planning and the determination of reimbursable meals
Allows students to decline a certain number of food components in the meal
Offer versus Serve or OVS, is a concept that applies to menu planning and the determination of reimbursable school meals in the USDA National School Lunch Program and School Breakfast Program.
OVS allows students to decline a certain number of food components in the meal, reducing food waste and food cost, and allowing students to select the foods they prefer to eat.
When student select the foods they prefer to eat they are more likely to eat the foods and less likely to throw them out, reducing plate waste.
OVS is optional for all grade levels at breakfast. OVS is optional for middle schools, and elementary schools for lunch. OVS must be implemented in senior high schools for lunch.

13. OVS Lunch Requirements
12/5/2019
OVS Lunch Requirements
This chart details OVS requirements at lunch. Notice requirements are discussed in food components and not food items as in breakfast. A school must offer five components: milk, fruit, vegetable, grain, and meat/meat alternate. A student may decline up to two food components. A reimbursable lunch contains three components, one of which is at least ½ cup fruit or vegetable.
As with breakfast, signage explaining what must be selected to make a meal reimbursable must also be present. The next slide provides an example.

14. 12/5/2019
OVS Lunch Signage
Schools must identify what constitutes a reimbursable meal at or toward the beginning of the meal service line.
Signage is required to assist students in identifying and selecting what is a reimbursable meal.
Most effective signage is signage that is tailored to the school menu. Here is an example of a lunch signage template available on our website and in the resources tab.

15. 12/5/2019
OVS Lunch Signage
Signage showing what makes a reimbursable meal is required for lunch. Here is an example of signage that a School Food Authority (SFA) created. There is Offer versus Serve signage in the resources tab.

16. Combination Foods Beef Taco:
12/5/2019
Combination Foods
Beef Taco:
Grain/Bread, Vegetables, Meat/Meat Alternate
Ham Sandwich: Grain/Bread Meat Alternate, Vegetables
Pepperoni Pizza: Grain/Bread & Meat/Meat Alternate
Macaroni and Cheese: Grain/Bread & Meat Alternate
Some entrees contain more than one food component as shown above. Don’t be confused by these combination foods - make sure you count each food component.
For instance, a slice of pizza might contribute 2 oz. eq. of grain and 2 oz. eq. MMA. Thus, it would count as two food components at the point of sale (POS) under Offer vs Serve.
A ham sandwich with vegetables may contribute 2 oz. eq. grain, 1/2 cup vegetable and 2 oz. meat/meat alternate. The cashier could count this as contributing 3 food components. This entrée alone would qualify as a reimbursable meal!
Keep in mind that the cashier should be informed of the food contributions before meal service when a combination food is offered.

17. YES Reimbursable Lunch? Burrito: 2 oz. eq. grain, 2 MMA Carrots: ½ cup
Is this selected tray a reimbursable lunch?
Yes
The bean burrito (a combination food) counts as two components (beans are M/MA, tortilla is grain/bread). Therefore, three components have been selected, and the ½ cup fruit/veg requirement has been met
Burrito: 2 oz. eq. grain, 2 MMA
Carrots: ½ cup

18. Splitting Components Tacos: 2 MMA , 1 oz. eq. grain
This tray is an example of splitting components across two food items: the rice and the tortillas. Under OVS students must select full components, the only exception is ½ cup F/V.
While allowable under OVS, splitting the component between two items can be challenging for the POS, good communication is key in this situation. Best practices include training your staff on which food items need to be combined to meet the component requirements and/or having “cheat sheets” at the POS so staff can easily identify what needs to be taken. You can also post signage on the serving line to assist students in their selections.
In this example a 9-12th grader would need to take both the tortillas and the rice to meet full grain component, while K-8 would not.
Tacos: 2 MMA , 1 oz. eq. grain
Rice: ½ cup, 1 oz. eq. grain
Cucumbers: ½ cup
Apple: 1 cup
Milk: 1 cup

19. Quiz Question
For lunch the full portion size of the grain component has been offered as two items, pasta and a breadstick.
A student is allowed to take only one of the items (for example the breadstick) only if they already have _______ components on the tray.
Three
Four
Five
Let’s take a look at an example of this concept.
For lunch the full portion size of the grain component has been offered as two items, pasta and a breadstick.
A student is allowed to take only one of the items (for example the breadstick) only if they already have _______ components on the tray.
Three
If a student only takes the breadstick this is not a full grain component therefore three other full components are required

20. No Entrée…Reimbursable Lunch?
K – 5 
6– 8 
9 – 12 
Is this selected meal reimbursable?
Yes, for all grades
Although there is no entrée with this meal, it does contain three components and includes at least ½ cup fruit or vegetable.
Dinner Roll: 2 oz. eq. grain
Corn: ½ cup
Milk: 1 cup

21. Two out of Three are Fruit/Vegetable
As we all know with OVS, students will select various combinations- and try to throw us off our game.
This circumstance you may not see very often in the elementary schools; however, you may come across this in middle and high school.
This scenario can be confusing! This is a reimbursable tray. When a student selects only three items and two are from the fruit and vegetable components, the student must select the full required minimum portion size of one fruit or vegetable and may select the ½ cup minimum of the other. This only matters at the high school level, as the ½ cup of fruit is the full portion for K-8.
K-8
Vegetable – Full portion is ¾ cup
Fruit- Full portion is ½ cup
9-12
Vegetable- Full portion is 1 cup
Fruit- Full portion is 1 cup
The other component (in this case milk) must be the full minimum required serving size ( 1 cup)
Salad Greens: 1 cup equivalent
Cranberries: ½ cup equivalent
Milk: 1 cup

22. This _________as a reimbursable meal.
Quiz Question
For lunch a ninth grader takes 1 cup milk, ½ cup green beans, and ½ cup applesauce.
This _________as a reimbursable meal.
A) qualifies
B) does not qualify
Let’s test your knowledge of this concept.
For lunch a ninth grader takes 8 oz milk, ½ cup green beans, and ½ cup applesauce.
This _________as a reimbursable meal.
A) qualifies
does not qualify
The answer is B) does not qualify
When a student selects three components and two of these are fruits and vegetables the student may select ½ cup of fruit or vegetable but then must select the full portion of the other, and in the 9-12 meal pattern this is one cup.
Would this scenario be reimbursable if this were a 5th grader? Yes, because the full portion for this age group is ½ cup.

23. Before the POS: After the POS:
Salad Bar Location
Before the POS:
The daily and weekly requirements for fruit and vegetables (including subgroups) will be met on the line.
After the POS:
An alternate POS approval from the School Nutrition Unit and salad bar monitor is required.
If your salad bar is located before the point of service, you can ensure that a reimbursable meal is selected when the reimbursable meal goes through the POS.
However, if your salad bar is located after the POS, you must fill out an alternate POS approval form and submit to our office. You will be required to have a monitor at the salad bar to ensure the students still take ½ cup of fruit or vegetable to make a reimbursable meal.

24. Watch Those Fruit/Veg Portion Sizes!X 
The tray on the left is not reimbursable. Here the student selected 3 components; however, the cucumbers are not the correct minimum portion size. The student must select a minimum of a ½ cup fruit and/ or vegetable. Having the student select more cucumber slices meets the ½ cup requirement and makes meal reimbursable as shown on the right.
Since fruits and vegetables can vary by size it is important for each SFA to ensure that staff are trained on how many pieces of a fruit/vegetable (for example the cucumber slices shown above) equals ½ cup.
The best way to do this is by conducting a yield study using the fruits and vegetables commonly utilized at your SFA. Additionally, having signage on your salad bar explaining to students what constitutes a correct ½ cup serving may be useful. Templates for both of these can be found on the CDE School Nutrition Unit website and the resources tab of this presentation.
Chili: 2 MMA
Cornbread: 1 oz. eq. grain
Cucumbers: ¼ cup
Chili: 2 MMA
Cornbread: 1 oz. eq. grain
Cucumbers: ½ cup

25. All Fruit and Vegetable?
The tray on the left is not reimbursable. The student has only selected two components, fruit and vegetable.
How can this tray be made reimbursable? (click to reveal right hand side)
Adding another component such as the milk in this example.
Salad Greens: 1 cup eq.
Oranges: ½ cup
Carrots: ½ cup
Salad Greens: 1 cup eq.
Oranges: ½ cup
Carrots: ½ cup
Milk: 1 cup

26. NO Reimbursable Lunch? Pizza: 1 oz. eq. grain, 1 MMA Milk: 1 cup
Is the selected meal on the left reimbursable?
No. The1/2 cup fruit or vegetable requirement has not been met.
Pizza: 1 oz. eq. grain, 1 MMA
Milk: 1 cup

27. Quiz Question
The best way for a SFA to determine how many pieces of a fruit/vegetable (for example, baby carrots or cucumber slices) equals ½ cup is to conduct a ___________.
A) Taste Test
B) Yield Study
C) Staff Survey
B) Yield Study.
For example, once a school knows how many of their cucumber spears equals one half cup, staff and students can be trained accordingly.

28. Contacts and Resources
Meal Pattern or Offer versus Serve questions: call or the School Nutrition staff member who oversees Meal Patterns
Further Resources:
Meal Planning webpage
Offer Versus Serve webpage
This training is one of two trainings on Offer versus Serve. If you haven’t already, take the Offer versus Serve School Breakfast Program training.
Please feel free to contact our office for questions or clarification.
Thank you for tuning in to the training and also thank you for the work you do everyday in providing students healthy school meals!