[Federal Register Volume 89, Number 166 (Tuesday, August 27, 2024)]
[Notices]
[Pages 68577-68578]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2024-19136]


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DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE


Submission for OMB Review; Comment Request

    The Department of Agriculture has submitted the following 
information collection requirement(s) to OMB for review and clearance 
under the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, Public Law 104-13. Comments 
are requested regarding; whether the collection of information is 
necessary for the proper performance of the functions of the agency, 
including whether the information will have practical utility; the 
accuracy of the agency's estimate of burden including the validity of 
the methodology and assumptions used; ways to enhance the quality, 
utility and clarity of the information to be collected; and ways to 
minimize the burden of the collection of information on those who are 
to respond, including through the use of appropriate automated, 
electronic, mechanical, or other technological collection techniques or 
other forms of information technology.
    Comments regarding this information collection received by 
September 26, 2024 will be considered. Written comments and 
recommendations for the proposed information collection should be 
submitted within 30 days of the publication of this notice on the 
following website www.reginfo.gov/public/do/PRAMain. Find this 
particular information collection by

[[Page 68578]]

selecting ``Currently under 30-day Review--Open for Public Comments'' 
or by using the search function. An agency may not conduct or sponsor a 
collection of information unless the collection of information displays 
a currently valid OMB control number and the agency informs potential 
persons who are to respond to the collection of information that such 
persons are not required to respond to the collection of information 
unless it displays a currently valid OMB control number.

Food and Nutrition Service

    Title: National School Lunch Program.
    OMB Control Number: 0584-0006.
    Summary of Collection: The Richard B. Russell National School Lunch 
Act (NSLA) (42 U.S.C. 1751 et seq.) authorizes the National School 
Lunch Program (NSLP). Section 10 of the Child Nutrition Act of 1966 
(CNA) (Pub. L. 111-296) requires the Secretary of Agriculture to 
prescribe such regulations as deemed necessary to carry out Child 
Nutrition Programs authorized under the NSLA and the CNA. The NSLA, as 
amended, authorizes the NSLP; 7 CFR part 210, to safeguard the health 
and well-being of the Nation's children and provide free or reduced-
price school lunches to eligible students through subsidies to schools. 
FNS published a final rule, ``Child Nutrition Programs: Meal Patterns 
Consistent with the 2020-2025 Dietary Guidelines for Americans'' (RIN 
0584-AE88) in the Federal Register on April 25, 2024 (89 FR 31962) 
which introduces new reporting and recordkeeping requirements for the 
NSLP. Under the NSLA, FNS is required to develop school nutrition 
requirements that are consistent with the goals of the most recent 
Dietary Guidelines for Americans. In addition, schools are required by 
regulation to comply with the meal requirements. This rulemaking 
finalizes long-term school nutrition requirements based on the most 
recent Dietary Guidelines for Americans and feedback from Child 
Nutrition Program stakeholders. The final rule strengthens the Buy 
American provision which requires the purchase of domestic commodities 
or products ``to the maximum extent practicable,'' maintains 
circumstances where limited exceptions are permitted to those 
requirements and requires school food authorities (SFAs) to include the 
Buy American provisions in procurement procedures, solicitations, food 
contracts, and awarded contracts. The final rule permits flexibilities 
regarding the standard educational criteria in the professional 
standards hiring requirements and allows SFAs and schools that are 
tribally operated, operated by the Bureau of Indian Education, and that 
serve primarily American Indian or Alaska Native children to serve 
vegetables to meet the grains requirements. In addition, to meet the 
goals of the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, the final rule updates 
nutrition requirements, particularly concerning reduced sodium and 
reduced added sugar content in school meals, which means that SFAs will 
need to do additional development and editing of their menus. In 
addition, FNS is also accounting for total additional start-up and 
maintenance costs of $21,819,000 that will be incurred by the State 
agencies and SFAs for maintenance of databases, menu planning, 
materials, and other rule-related costs as a result of this final rule.
    FNS is publishing a 30-Day Notice for this final rule submission 
because the agency changed how the requirements and burden changes were 
submitted for approval in the final rule from what was used in the 
proposed rule. Due to uncertain timing of the rules in conjunction with 
the renewal of this collection, FNS decided to request a new OMB 
control number for the collections related to the rule and later merge 
them into the existing information collections that are related to 
these requirements. By the time of the final rule, however, this 
collection was renewed, so FNS decided to switch to revisions of the 
existing collections, rather than requesting a new OMB control number. 
OMB reviewed the proposed submission as ``filed with comment'' on March 
21, 2023, and assigned the preliminary OMB Control Number 0584-0679 to 
the collection. However, because FNS decided to submit revisions to the 
existing information collections, this preliminary OMB control number 
was not used for the final rule submission.
    Need and Use of the Information: The revisions to this ongoing 
information collection are due to the final rule, ``Child Nutrition 
Programs: Meal Patterns Consistent with the 2020-2025 Dietary 
Guidelines for Americans'', which amends Program regulations and 
introduces new reporting and recordkeeping requirements into this 
collection. Staff at the State agencies and the SFAs must collect, 
provide, and maintain the information required by this rule. This final 
rule encompasses both mandatory and required to obtain or retain a 
benefit information requirements. The State agencies and SFAs are 
responsible for maintaining documentation and records to demonstrate 
their compliance with the Buy American provisions, the flexibility for 
SFAs or its schools which are tribally operated, operated by the Bureau 
of Indian Education, or serve primarily American Indian or Alaska 
Native students to serve vegetables in place of grains, the submission 
and approval of requests to hire school nutrition program directors who 
do not meet the standard education criteria, and to develop and 
maintain menus that reflect the updated nutrition specifications in 
accordance with the final rule. FNS will use this information to ensure 
compliance with the final rule requirements.
    Description of Respondents: State, Local, or Tribal Government.
    Number of Respondents: 115,935.
    Frequency of Responses: Recordkeeping; Reporting: On occasion, 
Annually, and Other (every 3 years).
    Total Burden Hours: 10,143,277.

Rachelle Ragland-Greene,
Departmental Information Collection Clearance Officer.
[FR Doc. 2024-19136 Filed 8-26-24; 8:45 am]
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