OBI Seafoods has landed a U.S. government contract for salmon worth USD 8 million (EUR 6.8 million).
OBI will deliver 74,480 cases of canned red salmon to several U.S. cities from October through December 2021, according to the contract terms released by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
The USDA also awarded a contract worth USD 2.42 million (EUR 2 million) to Consolidated Catfish Companies in Isola, Mississippi. Consolidated will deliver breaded catfish strips to several U.S. cities between January and February 2022.
The salmon and catfish awards are the latest seafood acquisitions from the USDA for the National School Lunch Program and other food assistance programs.
The USDA made its biggest seafood purchase ever in mid-May, comprised of USD 70.9 million (EUR 60 million) in fish and shrimp products.
Those purchases are part of the USDA’s Section 32 program, which buys surplus goods for nutritional programs. Federal lawmakers in seafood producing states worked to increase funding for the program in several COVID-19 relief bills to provide an additional market for fishermen who saw their businesses struggle to sell products during the pandemic.
“The impacts of COVID-19 reverberated from our farms to our oceans,” Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said in a statement. “U.S. fisheries and the American seafood industry were dealt a heavy blow … These healthy, nutritious food purchases will benefit food banks and non-profits helping those struggling with food hardship as the Biden Administration works to get the economy back on track for American families.”
OBI Seafoods was formed in May 2020 out of a merger of the Alaska operations of Ocean Beauty Seafoods and Icicle Seafoods.
Photo courtesy of Ocean Beauty Seafoods
