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Privacy
Policy
Vendors, manufacturers, processor,
brokers, associations and distributors that participate on this web site do so
voluntarily. These companies and not USDA are responsible for the accuracy of
the information that they provide and for meeting all applicable local, state,
or federal requirements for the production and sale of the food item. This web
site contains information regarding food products including ingredient,
nutritional, and packaging data. The vendors who are offering these products
for sale provide the products and nutritional information found on this site do
so voluntarily. The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), Agriculture
Marketing Service (AMS), Farm Services Agency (FSA), National Marine Fisheries
Service, Grain Inspection, Packers and Stockyards Administration (GIPSA), and
Food and Nutrition Service (FNS), do not endorse or recommend any product
grown, manufactured, processed, brokered, or distributed by the companies found
on this site.
This site further contains email
addresses and web links, or Uniform Resource Locator (URL), and Fact Sheet
connections to those vendors or to the vendors designated contact or agent. The
vendor offering the product information provided these links, or URL addresses.
While USDA will exclude any vendor
that has been found to have provided materially incorrect information, or fails
to satisfy the plant sanitation inspection requirements, the inclusion of any
vendor, or vendor's product on this web site does not constitute an endorsement
by USDA of the firms or product compliance. Most information presented on the
USDA Food & Commodity Connection Web Site is considered public domain
information. Public domain information may be freely distributed or copied, but
use of appropriate byline/photo/image credits is requested.
Additionally, this disclaimer applies
to the recipe exchange of the site. The recipe exchange is an open forum for
foodservice professionals, vendors, manufacturers, processor, brokers,
agricultural commodity associations, and distributors to provide recipes with
ingredient, nutritional, and preparation instructions. While USDA provides this
forum, USDA does not constitute an endorsement of any recipe or its contents.
This is a public web site. Any
information you provide should be considered as public information. The
information you provide when registering is available as statistical
information in the database and can be accessed by other registered users.
Personal information is not statistical information. We will not actively
disseminate the information you provided to any entity. Unless subject to the
exclusions specified in the Freedom of Information Act or otherwise prohibited
by law, however, all information collected and maintained by USDA related to
this web site may be subject to release.
Once registered, we will collect no
other personal information about you when you visit our web site unless you
choose to provide that information to us. We will however, collect certain
general information to note the number of visits, along with other information
as noted below to help us make our site more useful to visitors. This
information collected is for statistical use.
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The Internet domain or the IP address from
which you access our web site. Your
Internet domain is your Internet Service Provider (ISP), such as "xcompany.com"
if you use a private Internet access account, or "yourschool.edu" if you
connect from a university's domain. The IP address is a number assigned
(usually at random) to your computer by your ISP whenever you access the
Internet.
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The type of browser and operating system used
to access our site.
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The date and time, you access our site.
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The pages you visit.
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If you linked to the USDA Commodity Web site
from another Web site, the address of that Web site.
We do not track or record any other
information about your searches during your individual visits.
To provide a communication and
information source for schools, other procurement groups, and the companies
that supply them. To maximize the exposure of services provided by the United
States Department of Agriculture (USDA) to its customers, and to maximize
USDA's customer participation.
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This is a public web site. There are no
restrictions on viewing any information placed on the site by registered users.
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Vendors, manufacturers, processors, brokers,
or distributors who place their products or information on this site do so
voluntarily.
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This site is limited to those food products
that vendors, manufacturers, processors, brokers, or distributors wish to be
made available to the foodservice community.
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Vendors, manufacturers, processors, brokers,
or distributors agree to uphold this policy. The Department will remove all
non-food items from the site.
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It is the responsibility of the vendors,
manufacturers, processors, brokers, or distributors, and not the Department, to
enter, maintain and ensure the accuracy of the data and information they
provide for each product listed by that entity. The vendors, manufacturers,
processors, brokers, or distributors participating on this site agree to
promptly address and correct any information found to be inaccurate; failure to
do so may result in that party being removed from the web site.
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All food products listed on this site must be,
or must have been manufactured or processed at facilities that are under the
mandatory review of the Food Safety Inspection Service (FSIS) (9 CFR Part 381),
or under mandatory Food and Drug Administration (FDA)/State inspection (fluid
milk plants only), or from a facility that has passed an USDA
plant sanitation audit in accordance with the minimum review period for the
appropriate commodity group. Before a vendor's product becomes visible on this
site, the vendor is required to demonstrate that the facility that produced the
listed product has met these requirements.
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Commodity Area
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Minimum Survey Cycle
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Dairy Products
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Biannual
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Shell Egg
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Quarterly
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Processed Fruits, Vegetables and Nuts
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Annual
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Fresh Fruits and Vegetables
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Annual
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Water Foods
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Quarterly
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Processed Grain
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Biannual
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Distributors warehouse
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Annual
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Vendors must maintain their eligibility to
participate in U.S. Government procurement.
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It is the responsibility of the vendor,
manufacturer, processor, or distributor to be current on its USDA plant audit.
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If FSIS suspends service to a vendor's,
manufacturer's, processor's, or distributor's facility, or if such facilities
fail to pass the applicable USDA sanitation audit, that company and their
product information will remain in the database but will no longer appear on
the site. When FSIS restores its service, or the facility passes the applicable
USDA plant survey, the company and its products will reappear on the site.
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No vendor, manufacturer, processor, or
distributor may use the site to Spam mail. Spamming may cause the offending
vendor to be suspended from the USDA site.
USDA reserves the right
to remove any party from this web site for failure to adhere to the terms and
conditions of this web site, or for such other reason as USDA deems
appropriate.
Our web site has links to many
other web sites. Once you access another site through a link that we provide,
you are subject to the privacy policy of the new site. USDA makes no guarantees
of any kind regarding the content of non-USDA web sites.
The use of trade, firm, or
corporation names in this publication (or page) is for the information and
convenience of the reader. Such use does not constitute an official endorsement
or approval by the United States Department of Agriculture of any product or
service to the exclusion of others.
There are companies participating on
this web site who have provided product data through the PROFILE Database via
an upload process provided through this web site.
The uploaded data originates from the vendor offering the product
information, but the vendor is using a third party database owned by
Foodservice Ventures L.C. DBA, Sales Partner Systems, Inc.,
whose address is 757 South Nova Road, Ormond Beach, FL
32174, hereinafter referred to as "SPS", to manage their information.
Vendors participating in PROFILE have agreed that the data residing in
PROFILE is the property of SPS. All
uploaded data from PROFILE remains the property of SPS, and shall not be
licensed, sold, redistributed, or altered without written consent from SPS.
By accepting the following terms, you
agree that all product information originating from the PROFILE Database
remains as proprietary information and property of SPS, protected by copyright,
trade secret, and license and confidentiality agreements.
By accepting these restrictions, you acknowledge and agree that the data
provided from SPS may not be copied, distributed, licensed, given or disclosed
to any third party. Site users are
only permitted use of the SPS data to facilitate information gathering and as
reference for your feeding program.
Any other use of this data is prohibited. The data provided by SPS on this web
site is subject to these confidentiality, use and ownership restrictions, and
user agrees not to modify or remove any of the copyright notices on the data,
nor to alter the database itself in any way.
It is further agreed and understood
that this data is provided without warranties, representations, or other
affirmations of fact. Any
statements made regarding accuracy or currency of the data, capacity, shall not
create a warranty for any purpose or give rise to any liability or obligation
of SPS, the product distributor, or product manufacturer.
It is agreed that by accepting this agreement no warranties are to be
implied with respect to the performance of the SPS software, or the accuracy or
currency of any of the information contained in the database, or results to be
obtained by use of the database. The
distributors and manufacturers of the products in the database, and SPS, hereby
disclaim any express or implied warranties, including, but not limited to,
warranties of merchantability and fitness for any particular purpose, and any
warranty that the computer software or SPS database will be error free or that
its use will never be interrupted.
The distributors, manufacturers, and SPS shall have no liability whatsoever for
direct or indirect, special or consequential damages relating in any way to
this agreement, software or database, including but not limited to
consequential (including lost profits or savings), incidental, indirect or
direct damages incurred or suffered by data recipient even if the distributors,
manufacturers or SPS are informed of their possibility.
The data USER agrees to assume the entire risk of using the SPS database
and any related software.
Distributors, Manufacturers
and/or Other Parties Providing Data Form Foodservice Ventures L.C. DBA, Sales
Partner Systems, Inc.
By accepting the following terms, and
to insure data integrity within the food industry, you agree to the terms under
“Site User”. In addition, change
to SPS owned data, will only be made on the F&CC web site if the same
change is made to the SPS database, or with the expressed consent of SPS.
For site security purposes and
to ensure that this service remains available to all users, this government
computer system employs software programs to monitor network traffic to
identify unauthorized attempts to upload or change information, or otherwise
cause damage. Except for authorized law enforcement investigations, no other
attempts are made to identify individual users or their usage habits. Raw data
logs are used for no other purposes. Unauthorized attempts to upload
information or change information on this service are strictly prohibited and
may be punishable under the
Computer Fraud and Abuse Act of 1986
, the
National Information Infrastructure Protection Act and other
applicable laws.
USDA eAuthentication is the
system used by USDA agencies to enable customers to obtain accounts that will
allow them to access USDA Web applications and services via the Internet. This
includes things such as submitting forms electronically, completing surveys
online, and checking the status of your USDA accounts.
Currently, USDA offers Accounts with
Level
2 Access and Accounts with
Level
1 Access.
An account with Level 1 Access
provides limited access to USDA Web site portals and applications that have
minimal security requirements. Note:
Level 1 Access is limited and does not allow you to conduct official electronic
business transactions with the USDA via the internet.
The USDA Food & Commodity Connection is a
Level 1 authorized web site.
Spamming
USDA feels very strongly about not
allowing spamming in our community. As such, we have developed our own
anti-spamming policy to protect our customers and future customers from such
tactics.
Spam is ...
Spamming is defined as, "...flooding the Internet
with copies of the same message, in an attempt to force the message on people
who would not otherwise choose to receive it. Most 'Spamming' is commercial
advertising, often for dubious products, get-rich-quick schemes, or quasi-legal
services. 'Spamming' costs the sender very little to send - most of the costs
are paid for by the recipient or the carriers rather than the sender."
"There are two principal types of
'Spamming', and they have different effects on Internet users. Usenet
'Spamming' is a single message sent to 20 or more Usenet newsgroups. Usenet
'Spamming' is aimed at 'lurkers'; people who read newsgroups but rarely or
never post and give their address away. Usenet 'Spamming' robs users of the
utility of the newsgroups by overwhelming them with a barrage of advertising or
other irrelevant posts. Furthermore, Usenet 'Spamming' subverts the ability of
system administrators and owners to manage the topics they accept on their
systems."
"Email 'Spamming' targets individual
users with direct mail messages. Scanning Usenet postings, stealing Internet
mailing lists, or searching the Web for addresses often creates email
'Spamming' lists. Email 'Spamming' typically cost users money out-of-pocket to
receive. Many people - anyone with measured phone service - read or receive
their mail while the meter is running creating additional costs. Also, it costs
ISP's and online services to transmit "Spammed" information, and these costs
are transmitted directly to subscribers."
Our spam policy encompasses not
simply email, but also Usenet newsgroups, message boards, chat rooms and
instant messaging systems. Some of these media are not considered spamming in
the traditional Internet sense; however, we feel they are methods of abusing
the Internet to deliver to unknown user’s unsolicited information.
Additionally, we do not want our message to be distributed by the handing out
of pamphlets, leaflets and flyers or by any other means that infringes upon the
private property, rules, regulations or laws of any third party.
What happens to spammers?
Individuals caught spamming
will immediately be suspended from the web site.
Reporting Spammers
Report spam by e-mail to our abuse
monitoring team USDA Food Quality Assurance.
We promise to investigate claims as soon as possible and to take appropriate
action based on our findings.
Under United States law, it is
unlawful "to use any telephone facsimile machine, computer, or other device to
send an unsolicited advertisement" to any "equipment which has the capacity (A)
to transcribe text or images (or both) from an electronic signal received over
a regular telephone line onto paper." The law allows individuals to sue the
sender of such illegal "junk mail" for $500 per copy. Most states will permit
such actions to be filed in Small Claims Court. Here is the text of the federal
law:
From the U.S. Code Online via GPO
Access [wais.access.gpo.gov] [Laws in effect as of January 24, 1994] [Document
affected by Public Law 103-414 Section 303(a)(11)]
[CITE: 47USC227]
Sec. 227. Restrictions on use
of telephone equipment
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(a) Definitions As used in this section-- * *
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(2) The term "telephone facsimile machine''
means equipment which has the capacity (A) to transcribe text or images, or
both, from paper into an electronic signal and to transmit that signal over a
regular telephone line, or (B) to transcribe text or images (or both) from an
electronic signal received over a regular telephone line onto paper. * * *
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(4) The term "unsolicited advertisement''
means any material advertising the commercial availability or quality of any
property, goods, or services which is transmitted to any person without that
person's prior express invitation or permission.
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(b) Restrictions on use of automated telephone
equipment
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(1) Prohibitions It shall be unlawful for any
person within the United States -- to use any telephone facsimile machine,
computer, or other device to send an unsolicited advertisement to a telephone
facsimile machine; * * *
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(c) to use any telephone facsimile machine,
computer, or other device to send an unsolicited advertisement to a telephone
facsimile machine; * * *
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(3) Private right of action A person or entity
may, if otherwise permitted by the laws or rules of court of a State, bring in
an appropriate court of that State--
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(A) an action based on a violation of this
subsection or the regulations prescribed under this subsection to enjoin such
violation,
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(B) an action to recover for actual monetary
loss from such a violation, or to receive $500 in damages for each such
violation, whichever is greater, or
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(C) both such actions.
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If the court finds that the defendant
willfully or knowingly violated this subsection or the regulations prescribed
under this subsection, the court may, in its discretion, increase the amount of
the award to an amount equal to not more than 3 times the amount available
under subparagraph (B) of this paragraph. * * *
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(e) Effect on State law
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(1) State law not preempted Except for the
standards prescribed under subsection (d) of this section and subject to
paragraph (2) of this subsection, nothing in this section or in the regulations
prescribed under this section shall preempt any State law that imposes more
restrictive intrastate requirements or regulations on, or which prohibits--
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(A) the use of telephone facsimile machines or
other electronic devices to send unsolicited advertisements; * * *
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[Amended 1992: Subsec. (b)(2)(C). Pub. L.
102-556 added subpar. (C). ]
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Anti-Spamming Policy
Government
System Usage Policy
This
information service operates on a U.S. Government computer system. This system
is monitored to ensure proper operation, to verify the functioning of
applicable security features and for other like purposes. Anyone using this
system expressly consents to such monitoring and is advised that if such
monitoring reveals evidence of possible criminal activity, system personnel may
provide the evidence of such activity to law enforcement officials.
Unauthorized attempts to upload or change information; to defeat or circumvent
security features; or to utilize this system for other than its intended
purposes are prohibited.
Updated
January 30, 1997
Computer Fraud and Abuse Act of 1986 the
National
Information Infrastructure Protection Act.
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