The U.S. Department of Agriculture plans to buy a significant amount of wild Alaska pollock and salmon for its National School Lunch Program and other federal food and nutrition assistance programs.
The agency is asking for bids on more than 1.6 million pounds of Alaska pollock, and 88,160 cases of canned pink salmon. USDA is buying frozen pollock fish sticks, bulk pollock, and pollock fillets.
Bids are due by 15 November for salmon and 16 November for pollock. The suppliers must deliver seafood between January and June 2022.
In mid-August, the USDA awarded around USD 10 million (EUR 8.6 million) in Alaska pollock contracts to Trident Seafoods and Channel Fish Processing.
Despite the big win for pollock producers, processors left several million dollars of that contract on the table.
The USDA said in a notice it could not award contracts for nearly 2.1 million pounds of frozen pollock fillets, 1.5 pounds million pounds of pollock nuggets, and 1.25 million pounds of fish sticks “due to vendor constraints.”
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