The USDA Food Connect website provides a one-stop information and communication resource for schools, other procurement groups, and the companies that supply them. The web site allows food service professionals to search for, and identify, value-added food products produced from a variety of agricultural foods, the companies that offer the products, brokers that represent those companies, and distributors that have passed a warehouse sanitation review.

Commercial Item Descriptions (CIDs) help food service professionals buy and sell value-add food efficiently. CIDs, which describe specific traits of products, are available to food buyers and sellers to help them buy and sell these items.

AMS works with the food industry and food buyers to ensure that CIDs accurately represent product characteristics and current marketing practices. AMS also works with Federal and State agencies to ensure that CIDs conform to applicable laws, regulations, and policies.