Commodities Reference Guide, December 2003

USAID's Commodities Reference Guide (CRG) is an information tool providing relevant information about the food commodities distributed under Title II of Public Law 480 (P.L. 480). The Title II program is administered by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) in conjunction with the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). Title II food assistance programs illustrated in the CRG are geared to impact food security through improved access to food, increased availability of food and/or improved nutrition and utilization of food of the target groups. In addition to providing emergency relief from hunger and malnutrition, Title II programs emphasize sustainable food security and nutrition goals.

The CRG is designed to provide Title II cooperating sponsors with a description of available food commodities, their nutritional values and physical properties, a guide to appropriate storage and handling, and important general information regarding their safe and effective use as rations in Title II programs that distribute food directly to recipients. It should be noted that the information here is not a substitute for the very detailed guidance provided by the Office of Food for Peace annual proposal guidance, the monetization manual, and the USAID food aid and food security policy paper. The CRG program examples are illustrative. USAID's CRG web site provide links to relevant representative complementary policy and program documents and key web sites.

The following is a revision of the original CRG, issued in January 1988, by USAID's Office of Food for Peace. New information has been provided by FANTA in this latest edition of the CRG to include three main components: 1) development of commodity fact sheets for Non-Fat Dry Milk (NFDM) and the newly available cereal milk blend commodities; 2) guidance on lactose intolerance and micronutrient deficiencies; and 3) revised commodity fact sheet for sorghum.

Download 2003 Revised Commodities Reference Guide without Cover [920 kb]
Section Title	File Name	File Size
Table of Contents and Introduction	crg_Dec2003_A.pdf	29 kb
Part One, Section 1: Commodities	crg_Dec2003_B.pdf	33 kb
Part One, Section 2: Food Commodity Fact Sheets	crg_Dec2003_C.pdf	182 kb
Part One, Section 3: Storage/Shelf Life Specifications	crg_Dec2003_D.pdf	50 kb
Part One, Section 4: Controlling Damage to Food Commodities	crg_Dec2003_E.pdf	25 kb
Part Two, Guidelines for Selecting Food Aid Commodities Overview	crg_Dec2003_F.pdf	76 kb
Part Two, Module 1: Maternal Child Health and Nutrition	crg_Dec2003_G.pdf	80 kb
Part Two, Module 2: Food for Work	crg_Dec2003_H.pdf	51 kb
Part Two, Module 3: Food for Education	crg_Dec2003_I.pdf	63 kb
Part Two, Module 4: Non-Emergency Humanitarian Assistance	crg_Dec2003_J.pdf	136 kb
Part Two, Module 5: Emergency Programs	crg_Dec2003_K.pdf	144 kb
Part Three: Annexes	crg_Dec2003_L.pdf	187 kb