BUY AMERICAN: SUPPORTING DOMESTIC AGRICULTURE IN SCHOOL MEALS

The BUY AMERICAN PROVISION safeguards the health and well-being of our Nation’s children and supports the U.S. economy, American farmers, and small and local agricultural businesses (7 CFR 210.21 (d) and Memo SP 38-2017). School food authorities (SFAs) in the continental United States* must purchase domestic agricultural commodities and food products. For foods that are unprocessed, the agricultural commodities must be domestic, and for foods that are processed, they must be processed domestically using domestic agricultural food components that are comprised of over 51% domestically grown items, by weight or volume. A domestic creditable food component is the portion that counts toward a reimbursable school meal (meats/meat alternates, grains, vegetables, fruits, and fluid milk). • Foods and food products of Guam, American Samoa, U.S. Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, and the Northern Mariana Islands are considered domestic.