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You are here: Home > FD Programs > Commodity Complaints
Food Distribution

How to File a Complaint
 

FDD monitors complaints about USDA Foods and coordinates the resolution of health hazards with the FNS Office of Food Safety for States, Indian Tribal Organizations (ITOs), and recipient agencies participating in any of the Food Distribution Programs (FDP).
 

USDA Foods Complaint Procedures for Individuals or Local Recipient Agency:

If you are an individual who received USDA foods from one of USDA's nutrition assistance programs and would like to file a complaint about food or service issues, please contact your State Distributing Agency (SDA) by program or Indian Tribal Organization (ITO) for a contact person and name on the State Contacts List or ITO Contacts List.
 

To assist your SDA in processing the complaint more quickly, provide the following information:

  • Material Number/Food Code (for the Food Code/Material Number Crosswalk go to:  www.fns.usda.gov/fdd/WBSCM)

  • Can and Case Codes

  • Description of the problem and whether anyone reported feeling sick or being injured from consuming the product

  • Date your organization received the affected USDA Foods

  • Quantity of product involved (affected)

  • Quantity and physical address of product remaining and if the remaining product is affected or not

  • Sales Order Number (formerly Delivery Order Number)and Purchase Order Number (formerly Notice to Deliver Number).  These numbers may be on the paperwork received with the USDA Foods shipment.  If not, the SDA should be able to obtain them.

  • The specific circumstances involved (for example - I received the damaged canned products 2 months ago, but the cases were located in the middle of a pallet that could not be seen until the school opened the cases.  Or, the temperature in the delivery truck was 40 degrees when the discolored frozen products were delivered.)

  • In some instances, digital photographs of damaged product or foreign objects are helpful.

  • If you are requesting a replacement, you should retain the unopened product, until further notice from the USDA Foods Complaint Specialist at Food and Nutrition Service, so that the vendor can exercise his right to examine or retrieve the product. 

STATE DISTRIBUTING AGENCY (SDA) and INDIAN TRIBAL ORGANIZATION (ITO)

The SDA will act on complaints from eligible program recipients participating in the following USDA Foods Distribution Programs and file complaints in the Web-Based Supply Chain Management (WBSCM) System:

  • Child Nutrition Programs Includes the National School Lunch Program (NSLP), Summer Food Service Program (SFSP), and Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP)

  • Nutrition Services Incentive Program (NSIP)

  • Commodity Supplemental Food Program (CSFP)

  • Food Distribution Program on Indian Reservations (FDPIR)

  • The Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP)

  • Food Distribution Programs on Indian Reservation (ITOs & SDA for Nevada

USDA Foods Complaint Procedures: 

To file a complaint, the SDA/ITO must enter the information in the Web-Based Supply Chain Management (WBSCM) application. To log into WBSCM, go to https://portal.wbscm.usda.gov, log in and follow instructions for complaint submission.  If you have forgotten your password for eAuth, go to the eAuthentication website at http://www.eauth.egov.usda.gov and select the link for a forgotten password. 

NOTE to Multi-Food Users:  If you usually manage complaints for your organization and are not registered in WBSCM, contact the WBSCM Organization Administrator (Org Admin) for your organization and request that you be added as a user to complete this function in WBSCM.  The Org Admin is usually the person that orders USDA Foods for your organization.

To contact the FNS/FDD USDA Foods Complaint Team for help use our email address:

Last Modified: 02/15/2013