Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack today announced USDA's intention to
purchase turkey, pork, lamb, and walnut products for federal food
nutrition assistance programs.
"These purchases will assist the turkey, pork, lamb and walnut
sectors, which are currently struggling due to depressed market
conditions," said Vilsack. "Today's announcement will help mitigate
further downward prices, stabilize market conditions, stimulate the
economy, and provide high quality, nutritious food to recipients of our
nutrition programs."
USDA intends to purchase $60 million of turkey, $25 million of
pork, $2 million of lamb, and $29.7 million of walnuts. With today's
announcement to buy commodities, USDA will survey potential suppliers to
seeking the lowest overall cost by publicly inviting bids and awarding
contracts to responsible bidders.
These purchases reflect a variety of high-quality food products
each year to support the National School Lunch Program, the School
Breakfast Program, the Summer Food Service Program, the Food
Distribution Program on Indian Reservations, the Commodity Supplemental
Food Program and The Emergency Food Assistance Program. USDA also makes
emergency food purchases for distribution to victims of natural
disasters.
Government food experts work to ensure that all purchased food is
healthy and nutritious. Food items are normally required to be low in
fat, sugar and sodium. The commodities must meet specified grade
requirements and be USDA-certified to ensure quality. USDA only
purchases products that are grown in America.
For more information on purchase details, interested suppliers
should contact the appropriate Contracting Officer for each commodity
program, which can be found on the AMS Commodity Procurement Web page:
http://www.ams.usda.gov/cp.
--------------------------------------
USDA News
oc.news@usda.gov
202 720-4623