§ 7511a — Emergency Food Program Infrastructure Grants

(a) In this section, the term “eligible entity” means an emergency feeding organization. (1) The Secretary shall use funds made available under subsection (d) to make grants to eligible entities to pay the costs of an activity described in subsection (c). (2) The Secretary shall use not less than 50 percent of the funds described in paragraph (1) for a fiscal year to make grants to eligible entities that serve predominantly rural communities for the purposes of— (A) expanding the capacity and infrastructure of food banks, State-wide food bank associations, and food bank collaboratives that operate in rural areas; and (B) improving the capacity of the food banks to procure, receive, store, distribute, track, and deliver time-sensitive or perishable food products. (c) An eligible entity shall use a grant received under this section for any fiscal year to carry out activities of the eligible entity, including— (1) the development and maintenance of a computerized system for the tracking of time-sensitive food products; (2) capital, infrastructure, and operating costs associated with the collection, storage, distribution, and transportation of time-sensitive and perishable food products; (3) improving the security and diversity of the emergency food distribution and recovery systems of the United States through the support of small or mid-size farms and ranches, fisheries, and aquaculture, and donations from local food producers and manufacturers to persons in need; (4) providing recovered foods to food banks and similar nonprofit emergency food providers to reduce hunger in the United States; (5) improving the identification of— (A) potential providers of donated foods; (B) potential nonprofit emergency food providers; and (C) persons in need of emergency food assistance in rural areas; and (6) constructing, expanding, or repairing a facility or equipment to support hunger relief agencies in the community. (d) There is authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section $15,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2008 through 2023.