The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) has released a bid solicitation for 152,880 cases of canned sockeye salmon.

The product will be used for the agency's National School Lunch program and Federal Food and Nutrition Assistance Programs across the United States.

The USDA bid is for 24-count cases of 14.75-ounce cans of sockeye salmon.

Deliveries will be made between Sept. 1 and Dec. 31.

The USDA has awarded nearly $71 million (€65.9 million) in Alaska salmon contracts for fiscal year (FY) 2022, according to IntraFish data that tracks USDA bids. Trident and OBI Seafoods have been the only companies to receive the contract awards for FY 2022 salmon bids so far.

Earlier this month the USDA awarded Trident Seafoods the majority of a nearly $7.9 million (€7.5 million) contract to distribute canned pink salmon as well as wild frozen salmon fillets to its federal programs.

The USDA in January awarded OBI Seafoods the majority of two separate contracts for canned salmon, handing out a total of $52 million (€45.8 million) to the Seattle-based company.

The value of US seafood purchased by the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) has exploded over the past several years.

According to USDA data obtained by IntraFish, the value of US seafood used in USDA contracts tripled from 2014 to 2021, when it totaled nearly $152 million (€140 million).

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