2025-26 FFVP and FFVP TASTE Good Standing Status

To be eligible to receive a Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Program (FFVP) grant and an FFVP Try Agriculture Samples with Tastes and Education (TASTE) Incentive grant, school food authorities (SFA) currently participating in any and all of the federal Child Nutrition Programs, must be in good standing in the operation of those programs. They must also be in compliance with all related regulations during the application process and anytime during the course of the grant period.

This means that an SFA cannot be documented as having an open serious deficiency in its operation of the Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP) or the Summer Food Service Program (SFSP) and cannot have an active reimbursement hold in the School Nutrition Programs (SNP) related to non submission of, or unacceptable corrective action documentation (Title 7, Code of Federal Regulations [7 CFR], sections 226.6[c][3][iii], 225.11[c], and 210.24 respectively).

If an SFA knowingly submits false information on its grant application or claims, the California Department of Education (CDE) may deny or collect the agency’s grant funding.

The following criteria are considered when determining good standing. Any of the factors below may affect your agency’s eligibility to receive grant funding:

• Open serious deficiencies in the CACFP or SFSP (7 CFR, sections 226.6[c][3][iii] and 225.11[c])
  
  
• SNP reimbursement holds (7 CFR, Section 210.24)
  
  
• Failure to attend mandatory training (CACFP, SFSP, and SNP) (7 CFR, sections 226.16[l][2][viii], 225.7[a], and 210.24)
  
  
• Failure to report or submit required documents (CACFP, Food Distribution Program [FDP], SFSP, and SNP) (7 CFR, sections 226.16[b][2], 240.14[c], and 250.12[c], 225.6[c], 210.15[a])
  
  
• Outstanding account receivables (that are not currently being offset) and have aged beyond 30 calendar days (CACFP, FDP, SFSP, and SNP) (7 CFR, sections 226.14, 225.12, and 210.19[c]; State Administrative Manual–Nonemployee Accounts Receivable–Section 8776.6; and Management Bulletin [MB] Nutrition Services Division [NSD] NSD-FDP-01-2011)
  
  
• Fiscal accountability findings identified during the agency’s last review or audit (CACFP, SFSP, and SNP) (7 CFR, sections 226.6[b][2][vii][A][1], [2], and [3], 225.14[c][1], 210.19[a][1])
  
  
• Administrative capability findings identified during the agency’s last review or audit (CACFP and SFSP) (7 CFR, sections 226.6[b][2][vii][B] and 225.14[c][1])
  
  
• Excess net cash resources (CACFP, SFSP, and SNP) (MB NSD-SNP-04-2022; FNS 796-2, Rev. 4, page 7, Section [IV][D]; and 7 CFR, sections 226.15[e][13], 210.9[b][2], 210.14[b], and 210.19[a][1])

State Monitoring

A grantee will be notified if there is concern about their good standing status during the course of the grant year. As a result, the CDE reserves the right to remove grantees from the FFVP and disallow them from receiving future FFVP grants if the CDE has documented concerns with the grantee’s good standing status or their ability to implement the FFVP (i.e., grantee is not implementing the FFVP in accordance with the USDA FFVP: Handbook for Schools (PDF) or the FFVP Guidelines).

The same holds true for the FFVP TASTE Incentive; the CDE reserves the right to remove grantees from the FFVP TASTE Incentive and disallow them from receiving future FFVP TASTE Incentive grants if the CDE has documented concerns with the grantee's good standing status or their ability to implement the FFVP TASTE Incentive (i.e., grantee is not implementing the grant in accordance with the FFVP TASTE Incentive Handbook (DOCX), USDA FFVP: Handbook for Schools (PDF), or the FFVP Guidelines).

Over the course of the grant periods, grantees are expected to spend 75–100 percent of their total award. Therefore, the CDE will monitor a grantee’s spending pattern throughout the grant period. If there are documented concerns that grantees are under spending, this may detract from a grantee’s good standing status, and may result in an SFA being disallowed from receiving future funding.

At the end of each FFVP allocation period (July 1-September 30 and October 1-June 30), all unexpected funds shall be returned to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Any unspent first allocation funds (July 1-September 30) do not roll over into the second allocation.

In addition, the CDE expects all grantees to implement the FFVP when their school begins. If the SFA has any participating FFVP elementary schools that have not implemented the FFVP by October 16 of the grant year, the CDE will amend the second allocation award of the school to zero dollars and remove the school from the FFVP. As participation in the FFVP is an eligibility requirement for the FFVP TASTE Incentive, SFAs removed from the FFVP will also be removed from the FFVP TASTE Incentive grant funding.