Shortly after buying millions of dollars of salmon and Alaska pollock products, the U.S. Department of Agriculture is asking for bids on canned red salmon.
Suppliers must submit bids on delivering 152,000 cases of canned red salmon by 1 June, the USDA said in a notice.
The salmon will be used for the National School Lunch Program and another Federal Food and Nutrition Assistance Program, under the authority of the Build Back Better Initiative, the USDA said in its announcement. Winning bidders must make product deliveries between September and December 2022.
In mid-May, Seattle, Washington, US.A.- based Trident Seafoods nabbed the majority of a USD 7.2 million (EUR 6.7 million) contract to supply canned pink salmon and salmon fillets to the USDA. Seattle-based OBI Seafoods earned around USD 642,000 (EUR 599,000) of the total USD 7.86 million (EUR 7.3 million) contract award.
Trident also snared the vast majority of a contract worth nearly USD 10 million (EUR 9.3 million) to supply Alaska pollock to the USDA.
The USDA has awarded USD 9.96 million (EUR 9.3 million) – 3.2 million pounds worth – of pollock contracts for its child nutrition and other related domestic food assistance programs for fiscal-year 2022. Trident earned the majority of those contracts, pulling in USD 9.69 million (EUR 9 million) in deals, while Seattle-based American Seafoods will supply USD 274,000 (EUR 256,000) worth of bulk Alaska pollock.
Seattle, Washington, U.S.A.-based OBI Seafoods won USDA pollock and salmon contracts awarded in January 2022, worth nearly USD 62 million (EUR 55 million).
The USDA announced its intention to buy more domestically sourced canned salmon as part of the U.S. government’s Build Back Better Initiative in December 2021.
In a 13 April, 2022 notice, the agency said it will be buying even more U.S. seafood, including Alaska pollock, frozen Atlantic pollock fillets, canned pink salmon, frozen wild salmon fillets, haddock, and ocean perch.
Photo courtesy of shorex.koss/Shutterstock
