Online Training for CACFP, School Meals, and SFSP

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Online Course Catalog

School Nutrition Programs Annual Training 2025 (VTAOE-310)

The School Nutrition Program (SNP) Annual Training is a comprehensive online course designed to provide annual required training for school nutrition program employees. This training includes important topics such as civil rights, meal pattern requirements, recordkeeping, financial management/maintaining a nonprofit school food service account, procurement, the Administrative Review, food safety, an overview of determining eligibility and the verification process, and meal counting and claiming procedures. Information on local wellness policies, competitive foods, and professional standards will also be discussed.

Crediting Foods in CACFP (VTAOE-605)

This course goes into detail on crediting foods in the CACFP. The course discusses Child Nutrition labels, Product Formulation Statements, and standardized recipes.

Maintaining a Nonprofit Food Service Program (VTAOE-610)

All CACFP institutions must maintain a nonprofit food service program. This course includes two lessons that cover the evaluation of program revenue and expenses, financial recordkeeping and controls, and expectations with operating a nonprofit CACFP.

Meal Counting, Claiming and Documentation for Centers (VTAOE-604)

Submitting a claim for CACFP reimbursement requires detailed recordkeeping and preparation prior to the submission. This course reviews requirements related to point of service meal counts, attendance documentation, the edit check process, consolidation, and claim submission.

BTG-580 Managing Diets for Children with Food Allergies in Child Nutrition Programs Course Cover Image

Managing Diets for Children with Food Allergies in Child Nutrition Programs (VTAOE-580)

This training provides an overview of food allergies, an explanation of regulations for labeling food allergens, and a description of best practices for food allergy plans. Participants will practice finding common allergens on ingredient lists and identify practices that will keep children with food allergies from coming into contact with food that could trigger a reaction.

BTG-571 Milk Substitutes: Serving Creditable Milk Alternatives in Child Nutrition Programs Cover Image

Milk Substitutions: Serving Creditable Milk Alternatives in Child Nutrition Programs (VTAOE-571)

This is a 1-hour training course designed to provide child nutrition program operators with the information they need to accommodate participants’ dietary needs as it pertains to fluid milk consumption. This training covers important topics including creditable milk types per age group and meal service, methods for accommodating special dietary requests and disabilities, and allowable fluid milk substitutions.

btg-323 course cover image

Standardized Recipe Basics for Child Nutrition Programs (VTAOE-323)

This course is designed to build capacity among child nutrition professionals to standardize recipes. It provides a basic overview of standardized recipes, reasons that child nutrition professionals need to use standardized recipes, and an explanation of how to standardize a recipe. Participants will understand the key elements of standardizing recipes and the benefits to using them in their child nutrition program.

BTG-566 Practices for Improving Workplace Culture in Child Nutrition Programs Cover Image

Best Practices for Improving Workplace Culture in Child Nutrition Programs (VTAOE-566)

This course equips child nutrition program administrators and staff with the knowledge and skills needed to improve workplace culture. A positive workplace culture is crucial for the well-being of employees and the success of the organization. This course covers the definition and importance of workplace culture, plus strategies for improving workplace culture.

BTG-565 Best Practices for Hiring and Promoting Staff Course Cover Image

Best Practices for Hiring and Promoting Staff (VTAOE-565)

This course is designed to provide comprehensive guidance and knowledge on effective strategies and practices for attracting, selecting, and promoting the most qualified individuals within an organization. The course will explore recruitment and promotion processes and ensure the organization can build and retain a talented and diverse workforce.

BTG-555 Food Safety Essentials Course Cover Image

Food Safety Essentials (VTAOE-555)

Spend the next hour with us learning about basic food safety and sanitation principles! We’ll review why food safety is an integral part of your operations, the dangers of foodborne illness, and how to apply these lessons to your day-to-day tasks and activities. This course will also cover motivating employees to follow food safety processes and protocols. Feeding children and adults is a noble profession – don’t let a food safety slip mar the reputation of your program!

BTG-522 Menu Building Basics: Utilizing CN Labels and USDA Recipes to Build a Cycle Menu Course Cover Image

Menu Building Basics: Utilizing CN Labels and USDA Recipes to Build a Cycle Menu (VTAOE-522)

In this course, participants will learn to recognize the 6 key indicators for a CN Label is, what a product formulation statement is, and how to use them to build a cycle menu. In addition, participants will explore the vast resources of USDA Standardized recipes, and will learn how to scale these recipes and products to fit their production needs. Lastly, participants will understand the basics of record retention and what documentation would be needed to support food production records, if required by their state.

BTG-569 Basic Scratch Cooking Skills for Child Nutrition Programs Cover Image

Basic Scratch Cooking Skills for Child Nutrition Programs (VTAOE-569)

Basic Scratch Cooking Skills for Child Nutrition Programs is a 1-hour training course designed to provide anyone with cooking responsibilities in Child Nutrition Programs with the basic skills they need to begin preparing food. This training covers important topics including the benefits of cooking from scratch, basic knife types and knife cuts, different kinds of cooking methods, and a brief overview of developing standardized recipes and using cycle menus.

SFSP Meal Planning for Summer Success! 2024 (VTAOE-523)

A winning meal is the key to getting great attendance and keeping kids coming to your site all summer long. While SFSP has its special challenges, in this hour our course, participants will explore exciting menu options for cold meals and hot meals. Participants will learn the SFSP meal pattern and then discover how much creativity and flexibility it has to build the best meal pattern for their needs.

Boosting Menu Appeal in the SFSP 2024 (VTAOE-176)

Helping children get the nutrition they need for health and growth is what summer meals are all about. Creating appealing menus can help kids fuel up, have fun, and get the nutrition they need for growth and good health. This course will explore many ways sponsors can plan menus that kids will enjoy such as using local fruits and vegetables, adding variety and color, and making healthy meals fun!

Improving Food Safety at SFSP Sites 2024 (VTAOE-175)

Sponsors participating in the SFSP agree to maintain the storage, preparation, and service of food with proper sanitation and health standards in ordinance with all state and health laws and regulations. Understanding the proper food safety practices is essential to a successful summer meals site to ensure that the food children consume is safe and to reduce the risk of a foodborne outbreak. This course will promote important food safety practices including good personal hygiene, food temperature and storage, and proper cleaning and sanitizing of foods. Help keep kids safe and food fresh during the summer months!

Promoting and Marketing the Summer Meals Program 2024 (VTAOE-174)

Offering meals for the SFSP is a great way to ensure that children have access to meals in the summer months. But how do sponsors make sure that people are aware of SFSP sites? How do sponsors attract children and parents to summer meal sites? There are many forms of promotion and marketing that can help sponsors gain exposure. This course will discuss different ways to reach children and families by exploring forms of marketing and creative programming to build awareness and increase participation in the SFSP.

Budgeting for SFSP Success 2024 (VTAOE-173)

The budget is the key to understanding the financial side of the SFSP. The SFSP budget helps sponsors establish goals, make decisions, and understand how program funds are generated and spent. Participants will explore the biggest expenses and sources of revenue in the SFSP and evaluate those against their budget to measure the effectiveness of their program operations. Stay on track and build a successful summer meals program!

Exploring the Purchasing of Meals for SFSP 2024 (VTAOE-172)

SFSP sponsors who administer the SFSP have a strong commitment to the wellbeing of the children in their community. They want to serve meals to not only increase quality but to attract children to summer food sites. However, the purchasing of food, goods, and supplies can sometimes be a challenging process. This course will explore the options for buying meals in the SFSP, procurement methods, and the purchasing of local foods to maximize SFSP operations.

Supporting SFSP Recordkeeping Excellence 2024 (VTAOE-171)

Sponsors must keep full and accurate records so that they can substantiate the number of program meals that they have submitted at each claim for reimbursement. And, that SFSP funds are used only for allowable SFSP costs. This course will discuss recordkeeping requirements for sponsors including meal counts, program costs, monitoring, and training. Participants will learn and appreciate the importance of complete, well organized, and accurate records in the SFSP.

Summer Food Service Program Annual Refresher Training 2024 (VTAOE-179)

This course is designed for experienced and successful returning Summer Food Service Program (SFSP) sponsors, and will review the essential regulations and procedures of the SFSP.

Planning and Administering the SFSP 2024 (VTAOE-178)

This course is designed for new and returning Summer Food Service Program (SFSP) sponsor staff, and will review the regulations and procedures of the SFSP.

Family Style Meal Service – Building Better, Healthier, Menus and Eating Habits (VTAOE-514)

Family style meal service has the opportunity to teach children so much more than just how to eat. Learn the benefits of family style meal service, best practices to incorporate it into your meal service option, and what you must do to maintain CACFP Compliance. In addition, participants will learn best practices for conversations starters around the meal table, how to encourage staff to role model positive eating behaviors, and what equipment is need for family style meal service success.

A CACFP Infant Meal Pattern Guide (VTAOE-506)

A CACFP Infant Meal Pattern Guide is a 1 hour online course with 7 activities. Participants will learn about tools to guide them to determine if an infant food is creditable to the CACFP infant meal pattern, and what and how much they need to serve to be in compliance. The CACFP Meal Service Training Grant (MSTG), United States Department of Agriculture, provides the funding for this online training course.

A CACFP Meal Pattern Guide (VTAOE-505)

A CACFP Meal Pattern Guide is a 1 hour online course with 11 activities. Participants will learn about tools to guide them to determine if a food is creditable to the CACFP meal pattern, and how much they need to serve for each age group to be in compliance. The CACFP Meal Service Training Grant (MSTG), United States Department of Agriculture, provides the funding for this online training course.

Getting Everyone on the Same Plate: Teaching Teachers About the Child and Adult Care Food Program (VTAOE-503)

This training is all about the Child and Adult Care Food Program or CACFP. The course covers topics such as what the CACFP program is and what it does, who is eligible to sponsor or offer the CACFP and which children are eligible to participate or receive meals through the program. In addition, the course covers CACFP meal patterns, how to accommodate children with disabilities that affect the diet and recordkeeping requirements that are important for everyone involved with the CACFP to be aware of – even teachers!

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