At My Food Program, our mission is to make participation in the CACFP and SFSP as easy as possible. We are always trying to make our software better by improving on the functions we have and adding new ones based on customer feedback. Check out our list of software updates and new features below.
IMPROVED: “EXCLUDED FOODS” IS NOW “MANAGE FOOD ITEMS”
We have made three improvements to the feature that used to be called “Excluded Foods”
- We changed the name of the button from “Excluded Foods” to “Manage Food Items”.
- Our food database has gotten huge! And we noticed that the load speed on the food item list was very slow. Therefore, you are now asked to select a food category to load so that the page opens up quickly.
- Custom favorite foods for new sites. Sponsors are now able to select which food items they would like to be marked as a favorite on new sites. To add a food item as a default favorite for new sites, just click the heart icon and click save.
MARK A FOOD ITEM AS AN “EXTRA”
During meal planning, we now offer the option to mark a food item as an “extra” and indicate that it does not contribute to the meal pattern requirements. The option to mark a food item as an extra will appear in two scenarios:
- There are more than two components offered at a snack for non-infants.
- There are multiple food items offered in the same food group.
ADD INCOME FORMS IN BULK
After the popularity of our feature that allows sponsors to enter enrollment forms for multiple participants at once, we’ve created the same function for income forms. You will find a new button called “Income Forms” (visible to sponsor staff only) on the Participants & Rosters page. Clicking that button will open up a list of households, provide information about the most recent income forms and give you the opportunity to enter income forms for multiple households.
CUSTOM FOOTERS ON PRINT-READY MENUS
Users can now set their own custom footer on their printed menu. This will ensure that footers are in compliance with state agency requirements and sponsor policies and procedures. Custom footers can be set for:
- Print-Ready Child Menu in English
- Print-Ready Child Menu in Spanish
- Print-Ready Infant Menu in English
- Print-Ready Infant Menu in Spanish
ENTERING EXPENSES USING THE MOBILE VERSION
Users are now able to enter expenses using the mobile version of My Food Program. The categories and permission levels in the full web version are also applied in the mobile version. One handy tip: if centers are using the mobile version to enter expenses, one of the options when adding an attachment is to use the camera. This can be a time-saver compared to scanning, emailing and uploading attachments.
SITES CLAIMING WEEKENDS AND EVENINGS Some state agencies require special consideration on site monitoring visit planning for providers or centers that claim on weekends or evenings. This new report assists sponsors in identifying those providers or centers who serve meals on evenings or weekends. Visit our Help Center article to learn more and download a sample report.
INCOME AND EXPENSE TAX REPORTS FOR FAMILY CHILD CARE PROVIDERS
We’ve created one big report that combines several My Food Program reports related to tax reporting. The new “Income and Expense Tax Reports for Family Child Care Provider” combines the following: Visit our Help Center article to learn more and download a sample report.
UPLOAD ATTACHMENTS THAT ARE NOT VISIBLE TO PROVIDERS OR CENTERS
We have added a checkbox on attachments associated with site visits that allows sponsors to determine if the attachment is visible to the provider or center or not. This feature may be useful for documenting unsuccessful visits or major compliance issues. All current visit attachments have been marked as viewable to sites.
- Added an option for a sponsor to receive an email alert when a participant birth date is changed. The alert is off by default and you can turn it on by editing a sponsor user.
- Added the site logo to the print-ready versions of the menus.
- Repaired a bug that was preventing sponsor admin users from being able to view and enter menus on the mobile version.
- Adjusted the claim reimbursement rate for family child care homes in California to account for the state subsidy.
- Allowed users to select an inactive sponsor reporter on the visit page in order to maintain audit records on visits done by prior staff.
- Updated the report logic to account for all tier determinations, including those in future months, on the Expiring Provider Tier I Status Report.
- Added the payment method to the State Submission Detail Report.
- Added the second phone number to the Site Summary Report.
- Added address and phone number to the Participant List that can be printed from the Participants & Rosters main page.
- Added the option to run the Daily FRP Claim Record Report as a PDF.
- Made dynamic filters on the Site Summary Report at the sponsor level. Selecting a city or a monitor will filter the site list accordingly.
- Repaired a bug that was preventing the ability to merge duplicate participants if they were both checked in a observed or expected at a site visit.
- Changed the meal order system so that new orders cannot be created for a day with a closure. This applies to the Meal Order Management Screen at the sponsor-level, and all the ways to enter meal orders at the site level: bulk meal orders, individual meal orders and meal orders entered on the mobile version.
- Changed the checkbox that compares participant start date to the income form signature date to be based on calendar month instead of exact dates to account for the fact that income forms are effective for a full month.
NEW REPORT
IMPROVED: MONITORING VISIT REPORT
We have improved the Monitoring Visit Report by making the following changes for the date range selected:
- We include ALL sites that were active during any part of the selected date range. Previously the report included only sites that received a site visit. For sites who became inactive during the date range selected, we provide the Withdrawal Date.
- For sites that have not received a visit during the selected date range, we provide additional information:
- Most Recent Visit
- Last Claim Received
Learn more and download a sample in our Help Center article.
OTHER ENHANCEMENTS AND BUG FIXES
- Added an option to sort the Daily Meal Count with In/Out Times Report by first name or last name.
- Changed the Invoicing Summary Report and the Revenue Summary Report to use the site’s Business Name if one is provided. If that field in Site Details is blank, then the report will use the Legal Name.
- Added the name of the user that created a message using the My Food Program message center.
- Changed the Monthly Meal Count with Attendance Report from landscape to portrait orientation in order to shorten the number of pages. We went from being able to display approximately three participants per page to 6, so the report is now half the length.
- Added the preferred language to the Missing Claim Report.
- Added attendance to the Daily FRP Count by Meal Type Report.
- Made the “Search Sites” button available to Sponsor Reporter users.
OPTION TO SEE ALL PARTICIPANTS ON MEAL COUNT SCREENS We have added the option to show all participants across all rosters on the meal count screen. To view all participants, choose the option labeled “Select” on the roster dropdown. This will clear the roster selections and show all active participants. Since we don’t know which classroom to associate with the meal count, we will automatically assign one.
ENHANCEMENTS FOR MASTER MENU SITES With our last software update, we introduced the concept of Master Menu Sites. A master menu site allows you to link sites using the same menu. We’ve hugely improved on this concept with the following enhancements:#1: Automatic Updates to Menus and Food Production Records When a menu is entered or edited in the Master Menu Site, those changes are now instantly reflected on the menus at each of the sites linked to the Master Menu Site. If there is an existing food production record, that will also be updated to reflect the new or updated food item.#2: Site-Level Food Production Records from Meal Orders If you are entering meal orders into My Food Program, you can now convert those meal orders into food production records in just a few clicks on the Master Menu Site:
REQUIRE SAME-DAY FOOD PRODUCTION RECORDS This new feature is for those sponsors that want to require that food production records be completed the same day as the meal (i.e. by midnight the day of the meal). If used in conjunction with the option to disallow meals for food shortages, this would disallow all meals without a food production record. Learn more about this new option in our Help Center Article.
PRINTABLE MENUS IN SPANISH We have added an option on our printable menus for Spanish. To find these, click on Menus, then Print Menus and select the Spanish version (1). If you select the print-ready version in Spanish, then the food item names will be translated (2).
REPORT MAKEOVER: DELIVERY RECEIPT REPORT We have completely re-vamped the Delivery Receipt Report to improve readability and add serving size information. In re-doing the report, we tried to match the report from top-to-bottom with the workflow from start to finish. After the basic site information we have:
- Planned Menu
- Meal Orders
- Food Production Amounts
- Serving Sizes
- Food Temperatures
- Delivery Confirmation Signatures
FAVORITE REPORTS AT SPONSOR LEVEL Sponsors can now “favorite” reports at the sponsor level just like with site-level reports. Favorite reports are for the sponsor, not for each user. To mark a sponsor-level report as a favorite, just click the heart icon next to the report and click “Save Favorite Reports” (1). Reports marked as a “favorite” are moved up to the top of the report list for each category. You can also view only the Favorite Reports from the dropdown (2).
LATE START SCHOOL AGERS ALLOWED TO CLAIM AM SNACK/LUNCH This feature is for sponsors that automatically disallow AM Snacks and Lunches for school age children. There are two checkboxes in Site Details that are similar, but one is based only on age and disallows AM snacks and Lunches when a child turns 6 years old. The related checkbox will also disallow AM snack and lunch but only if the child is marked as “included in school age capacity”.These disallows work for the majority of school age children, but there are some children that leave for school later in the day and can still participate in AM Snack or Lunch service. That’s where these new checkboxes come in handy! If a child is 6 yr+ or included in school age capacity, but should still be eligible to be claimed for AM Snack or Lunch, there are several ways to override the error. Visit our Help Center article to learn more.
TIME-SPACE PERCENTAGE The Time-Space Percentage is the portion of expenses incurred by a family child care provider that can be classified as business expenses for tax purposes. Our new report will assist with calculating the time-space percentage. Visit our Help Center article for more details on how to use this report.
- Added an alert on the check for errors page if no meal counts have been entered for the month.
- Made sure that the system re-calculated the next visit due to be 28 days if the visit type selected is Preoperational/Intro.
- Added the option to run the Site Summary Report without the list of participants.
- Changed the email alert for site closures to include both the site name and legal name.
- Ensured that attendance cannot be entered on MFP+ if the claim has been submitted to sponsor.
- Made the Daily Meal Count Tally Report available to all site types. The report was previously restricted to afterschool and summer food sites.
- Repaired the State Submission Detail Report to properly include cash in lieu of commodities.
- Updated the formatting of the state agency export file for Michigan homes.
NEW REPORT
PORTIONED INFANT MENU SPREADSHEET
This report is for sponsors and sites in states that require a portioned menu for infants under 12 months. A portioned menu is different from a standard menu in that it has the portion sizes for ages 0-5 months and 6-11 months listed right on the menu. Visit our Help Center article to learn where to find this report and to download a sample.
NEW FEATURE
INCOME ELIGIBILITY CALCULATOR ON THE TIER DETERMINATION SCREEN
We have added the Income Eligibility Calculator on the screen used to enter a tier determination. This will be helpful for sponsors that are qualifying a provider for Tier I rates based on their own household income. When using the calculator, you will need to enter the effective date of the tier determination prior to using the calculator so that it knows which income eligibility rates to use.
OTHER ENHANCEMENTS AND BUG FIXES
- Added a counter on the site visit page for a count of participants expected and observed.
- Added horizontal lines between meal types on the Child Menu Print-Ready.
- Added “Virtual Review” as an option for a visit type.
- Updated the training descriptions on the Site Summary Report for clarity.
- Updated the formatting on the Infant Menu – Print Ready to add lines between meal types to improve readability.
- Added the option for sponsors to hide the Annual Re-Enrollment Report in case their state agency does not allow enrollment updates to be done in this manner.
- Added expense categories for Administrative Labor, Benefits (Admin), Benefits (Operating), Communications, Conference/Meeting, Contracted Professional Services, Durable Supplies (Admin), Durable Supplies (Operating), Equipment Rental/Lease, Facility Training, Insurance/Premiums/Bonding, Memberships and Subscriptions, Mileage, Office Space/Rental/Lease, Office Supplies, Postage, Printing, Purchased Services, Repairs, Training Supplies and Materials, Travel for Program Operations, Utilities/Facility Maintenance/Janitorial.
- Allowed Sponsor Reporters (monitors) to add, edit and delete training for site-level users.
- Added the ability to add a day to a center’s schedule without adding any meals and also allow for split schedules (open in the morning and again in the afternoon with a break in between).
- Updated the numeric keypad used for entering food temperatures in MFP+ so that negative numbers can be entered for foods that are delivered frozen.
NEW FEATURE
SHORTCUT TO ADD FOOD ITEMS FROM THE MENU TO TEMPERATURE TRACKING
This feature is for sites that record food temperatures in My Food Program. If there is a menu entered for the meal, then the food items will be listed at the top of the Food Temperature screen. Just click “Add Food Item” and the system will automatically add that item on the list for temperature tracking. Note that this feature is currently available in our full web version. We will be adding this functionality to the mobile version later this month.
NEW FEATURE
MASTER MENU SITE
We have added a new checkbox in Site Details to designate a site as a “Master Menu Site”. This feature allows you to match sites that have a master menu with the sites that use that master menu. And for those sponsors that use meal orders, we have also displayed a summary of meal orders on the food production screen for the master menu site. This allows for easier creation of central kitchen food production records based on meal orders.
NEW FEATURE
ADJUSTMENTS FOR SPONSOR-LEVEL CLAIMS
This feature is for sponsors that must file their claims on an aggregate level and not per-center. (This is the less typical manner of filing claims). Since our claim estimates will only work for center-level claims, there will be a small discrepancy between the sum of the center-level claim estimates and the aggregate claim estimate. To reconcile the difference, the sponsor can record the amount received from the state agency and the system will allocate across the centers on a weighted average basis according to the original claim amounts (1). Entering a value and clicking the green button will also mark the claims as paid to remove any further edits (2).
OTHER ENHANCEMENTS AND BUG FIXES
- Added a second “save” button at the top of the infant menu screen.
- Added a “Total Expenses” column to the Expense Summary by Center Spreadsheet Report.
- Added the option to place zero claims automatically on hold.
- Changed the permission set for Sponsor Reporters to allow them to view Staff/Users.
- Added a column for the income form case number to the Provider Tiering Spreadsheet.
- Added an option to run the Five-Day Reconciliation Report by program type.
- Added additional fields to the template for uploading sites.
- We renamed the primary training from “Civil Rights and CACFP Required Elements” to “Required Annual Food Program or Civil Rights Training” to be more inclusive of Summer Food sites.
- We added a new training type for “Other Food Program or Nutrition-Related Training”. This type of training does NOT impact the site dashboard icon about “Staff with expired or missing training” because that tracking is specific to Required Annual Food Program or Civil Rights Training.
- We renamed the training type “Other” to specify “Training Not Related to the Food Program”. This type of training does NOT impact the site dashboard icon about “Staff with expired or missing training” because that tracking is specific to Required Annual Food Program or Civil Rights Training.
- Added a checkbox in Site Details for “Ignore Milk Audit Requirement”. Sponsors can use this option if most, but not all, their sites need to conduct a milk audit as part of claims processing.
NEW FEATURE
PDF PREVIEW OF READY RECORDS FORMS
On the screen used to approve income and enrollment forms completed through Ready Records, there is now a preview of the PDF with the option to download it. Until the form is approved, the sponsor signature field and approval date fields will be blank. Once the form is approved, those fields will be filled in.
NEW FEATURE
NEW OPTION TO ALLOW SITE-LEVEL USERS WITH “STAFF” OR “KITCHEN STAFF” PERMISSION LEVEL TO ENTER ATTENDANCE AND MEAL COUNTS FOR DATES IN THE PAST
With this new checkbox, sponsors can authorize additional users to enter attendance and meal counts in the past. All users are prevented from entering attendance and meal counts in the future and for dates with a claim. Scroll to the bottom of our Help Center article on Staff Roles to see how the new permissions work.
NEW FEATURE
HIDE PARTICIPANT STATUS “INACTIVE” FROM SITE-LEVEL USERS
This feature is for sponsors that want to manage the child status themselves and not allow providers or centers to withdraw children on their own. The new checkbox can be found in Site Details under Participants & Rosters (1).
If this box is checked, then site-level users do not have the red box on the participant page to “Set Participant Status to Inactive” and they are also not able to select the option for “Inactive” from the participant status dropdown. With box checked, this is what it looks like for providers or centers (2). With box unchecked, this is what it looks like for providers or centers, and always what it looks like for sponsor users (3).
NEW REPORT
SITE PRINCIPAL SPREADSHEET
Sponsors are required to verify the site principals associated with a facility. For family child care homes, that is usually the provider. For other site types it’s either the owner of a for-profit business or the Board of Directors of a non-profit organization. This report provides the principals that are associated with a site, which can be entered in Site Details. Learn more about this report and download a sample in our Help Center article.
OTHER ENHANCEMENTS AND BUG FIXES
- Added the ability to Resubmit with Sponsor Changes at the sponsor level.
- Repaired an issue with generating food production records in bulk.
- Updated the new state agency claim export file for family child care home claims in Michigan to use the facility license instead of the site identification number.
- Added the names of children to the Providers Claiming Own Children Report.
NEW REPORT
IMPROVED: CLAIM SUMMARY REPORT FOR FAMILY CHILD CARE HOMES
We have updated the formatting of this reports with the following changes:
- Moved the summary table of claimable meal totals to the top of the summary.
- Moved the summary of disallowed meals above the summary of adjustments.
- Added the participant name and reason(s) to the disallows and adjustments.
NEW FEATURE
PORTION SIZES IN MEAL PATTERN UNITS AND FOOD PRODUCTION IN PURCHASE UNITS
We have a new feature that should make kitchen math much easier by showing both meal pattern units and purchase units. Staff in the classroom generally prefer “meal pattern units” such as Cups, Ounces and Each. While the food service staff find “purchase units” more useful. Examples of purchase units include Pounds, #10 Cans and Gallons.
We are now displaying meal pattern units (1) in the following places:
And using purchase units (2) in the following places:
NEW FEATURE
MENU CALENDAR ICON FOR FIELD TRIPS
We have added a new icon on the menu calendar to indicate a field trip (see below). Adding a field trip does not prevent a provider or center from recording meal counts. The field trip function is there to alert the site monitor that the provider or center will be off-site during the meal service.
NEW FEATURE
RECORD REASON FOR CHILD’S ABSENCE
Some providers or centers are required to record the reason that a child was not in attendance on a particular day. We now have the ability for users to enter this information. Due to screen size restrictions, this feature is only visible if attendance and meal counts are displayed on separate screens and only on the full version, not the mobile version. The inputs from this screen are included on a new Reason for Absence Report that includes the date, Participant Name, Birthdate and Reason for Absence.
NEW REPORT
MEAL TOTALS REPORT
This new report provides a spreadsheet with the daily totals of attendance and meal counts. Visit our Help Center article to learn more and download a sample report.
NEW REPORT
MISSING CLAIM REPORT
This report is helpful for sponsors to track whether sites have submitted a claim for the month, and if not, it provides the contact information for those sites. The report is a spreadsheet and includes the site name and ID, whether the site or claim is on hold, contact information and the last claim that was received by the site. Learn where to find this report and download a sample in our Help Center article.
NEW FEATURE
SUMMER CAMP WITH MEAL COUNTS BY NAME
Most summer food sites are designated as open to the community and therefore only need to count the number of eligible children who receive a reimbursable meal. Open sites do not need to collect any identification for the children and so there is no need to record meal counts by name.
However, the rules are different for residential and non-residential camps because meals can only be claimed for children who are eligible for free or reduced-price meals. The easiest way to accomplish this is to record meal attendance by name, but only request reimbursement for meals served to eligible children. That’s exactly what our new feature for summer camps does! Camp staff will check children in for meals during meal service time and the software will generate a claim for reimbursement that only includes the eligible children.
OTHER ENHANCEMENTS AND BUG FIXES
- Changed the color of the fruit component on the menu planning page to purple as the previous red color was leading some users to believe that the food item as was error.
- Added age to the Participant List that can be printed from the main Participants & Rosters screen.
- Added a second save button at the top of the edit menu screen.
- Repaired the “Select All” function on the Claim Payments page.
- Changed the sponsor-level report for participant race and ethnicity to a date picker for more flexibility.
- Applied date formatting to relevant columns in the Site Export Report.
- Added columns for “On Hold” and “Last Claim Received” to the Sites Due for a Review Visit Report.
- Improved the function for recording substitutions for special dietary needs to pre-fill whether the substitute food is supplied by the parent or the center/provider based on the preference indicated on the Special Diet Form.
- Added the ability to run the Site Summary Report at the sponsor level for only certain cities or only certain monitors.
- Added a new option to hide the “Expected” column on the site visit page. If this checkbox is marked, then only the “Observed during Visit” column will be visible on the Visit page.
- Added a note on the meal details screen if there is a claim for the month.
- Added the ability to select the meal(s) affected by a multiple day closure.
- Reorganized the Claim Summary Report so that the final claim amounts are at the top followed by a summary of disallowed meals and then any adjustments.
- Sponsor users can now be assigned as both Admin users and Reporters (Monitors).
NEW FEATURE
ALLOW PROVIDERS OR CENTERS WITH “STAFF” ACCESS TO ENTER MENUS
Our user role with the lowest permission level is called “Staff”. It is typically used for classroom staff in a center or a helper in a family child care home. Staff users can be restricted all the way down to a single button for Attendance & Meal Counts. If you would like to customize the “staff” user, you can allow them to also:
- Enter Menus (NEW!)
- View Participants & Rosters
- Record Hours
- View File Cabinet Contents
Learn where to customize these settings in our Help Center article.
OTHER ENHANCEMENTS AND BUG FIXES
- Added the ability to search sites by county.
- Ensured that the same check number was being filled for checks that include payments from different claim months.
- Repaired a bug in the claim estimate for manual claims created in after school sites.
NEW FEATURE
ON-SCREEN ALERTS FOR SCHOOL RELEASE DAYS
We have learned that some users were doing double work by entering both a school release day and also marking “meal outside of schedule” for each participant. You should only need to do one or the other for school age children.
If your sponsor disallows AM snacks and lunches for children ages 6 and older or disallows AM snacks and lunches for children included in school age capacity, then you will see this message on the meal count page for a day with a school release (1).
If your sponsor disallows meals that are not on participant schedules, then we will let you know that we will use alternate schedules instead if you have entered one. This is the message you will see on the meal count page for a day with a school release (2).
NEW FEATURE
ALERT IF MENU CANNOT BE EDITED BECAUSE OF A REVIEW VISIT
We have added an alert on the Meal Details screen that allows the providers or centers to know that a menu cannot be edited because a review visit took place for that date and meal (1). Remember, that on the Visit page, if you select “Yes” or “No” under the menu question, the provider or center will not be able to edit the menu (2).
We do not allow menu editing so that the food items that were in the system when it was reviewed by the monitor remain in place – whether that is to document that there was a mismatch between the items served and the recorded menu or to certify that the food items served matched the recorded menu.
OTHER ENHANCEMENTS AND BUG FIXES
- Added a new State Agency Export file for Michigan family child care homes for the format effective March 2025.
- Added the ability to add, change or remove the monitor for a site in Site Details.
- Changed permission settings for Sponsor Reporters to allow them to delete a site visit.
- Created a sponsor-level version of the Manual Claim Information form and adjusted the formatting to save space.
- Changed permissions so that Sponsor Admin users can edit food temperature and delivery times to correct data entry errors.
- Updated the enrollment form for family child care homes in Colorado to add fields related to infant formula offered.
- When clicking on “Open Electronic Form” on the Visit page, the form will now open in a new tab.
- Split the counters on the meal count page to accommodate shifts.
- Added the Infant Feeding Benefit Notification and Acknowledgement to the Pre-filled Forms and Blank Participant Registration Form Report for sites located in Idaho.
- Filled in the Enrollment Date on the Pre-filled Forms for homes in Illinois and homes and centers in Michigan.
NEW REPORT
PAYMENT HISTORY SPREADSHEET
This new report includes the information from the Claims Payment Screen with a few improvements:
- The spreadsheet format allows you to search, sort and filter.
- You can select payments across multiple months.
- The report includes the site payment method (direct deposit or check) for easier reconciliation.
- There is a column for admin amount and payment to site amount.
Learn more about this new report in our Help Center article.
NEW FEATURE
ADD TRAINING HOURS FROM THE VISIT PAGE
We have added the ability to enter training hours right on the visit page. You can see this new section at the bottom of the Visit screen. Important Note: after you click “Save Training Entry” it will not be displayed on the screen. Instead it is transferred to the site staff page where you can see all training entries.
NEW REPORT
DISALLOWED MEALS SPREADSHEET
We have a new option for sponsors who want to analyze which sites had meals disallowed and the reason. With this new Disallowed Meals Spreadsheet you can select the claim month and (optional) the state submission. Then you can download a spreadsheet and sort and filter by site, participant, disallow reason, date, meal type or number of meals disallowed. Learn more and download a sample in our Help Center article.
NEW FEATURE
DISALLOW MEALS FROM THE VISITS PAGE
We have created a method to make it easier for sponsors to disallow a larger number of meals right from the visit page instead of needing to navigate to the meal count page to disallow each meal. Find more information in our Paper Visits or Electronic Visits articles.
OTHER ENHANCEMENTS AND BUG FIXES
- Abbreviated the Site Types on the View/Create Claims screen and added the ability to search on “Site Name” and “ID”.
- Abbreviated the Site Type and added a search feature to the Site Name and ID columns on the Claims Payments screen.
- Repaired a fix on the visit page that was causing the visit form to not load properly.
- Repaired a bug in recording substitutions for participants with more than one special dietary need.
- Updated the Check Stub Report to combine multiple payments to a provider or center into one check.