The U.S. Department of Agriculture is asking salmon suppliers to bid on a large quantity of canned pink salmon and frozen salmon fillets for its National School Lunch Program and other Federal Food and Nutrition Assistance Programs.
The USDA is asking for bids on 216,000 pounds of frozen salmon fillets and 66,800 cases of canned pink salmon.
Bids are due by 13 May, according to the notice. The winning bidders will make deliveries to several U.S. cities between September 2022 and February 2023.
The USDA also said in early May it is looking to purchase more than 3.2 million pounds of Alaska pollock for its federal nutrition programs.
In the notice, the USDA asked suppliers to bid on supplying 3.21 million pounds of frozen domestic pollock fillets, sticks, and bulk (surimi). Offers are due by 12 May, 2022.
The USDA is also asking for bids on 72,000 pounds of frozen walleye fillets by 12 May.
If the USDA purchases all of the pollock it has requested, it would make USDA’s fiscal year total 9,976,000 pounds, the Association of Genuine Alaska Pollock Producers CEO Craig Morris told SeafoodSource.
“One thing is clear: USDA is now a sustained major buyer of wild Alaska pollock,” Morris said. “Year after year, these purchases hovered in the two to three million pounds-a-year range – certainly not an insignificant number. However, the last few years have seen a dramatic increase in both the volume and value of these purchases.”
The 2022 fiscal year has already been the fifth-highest ranking year in terms of USDA’s Alaska pollock purchases by volume. Morris said it could rise as high as fourth in value, depending on prices offered by bidders.
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