The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) has selected US-based companies Consolidated Catfish, Lafitte Frozen Foods, Ocean Select Seafood and Sea Pearl Seafood for a contract worth over $25 million (€21.4 million) to provide wild, frozen shrimp to be distributed across several US states as part of its federal food and nutrition assistance programs.
Louisiana-based Ocean Select was awarded the lion's share of the contract, at around $17 million (€14.6 million), to provide cities around the United States with 153,000 cases worth of size 31-50 peeled and deveined packaged shrimp. The total contract was for 217,200 cases of various sizes of shrimp.
Deliveries must be made between Nov. 1 and Jan. 31, 2021.
In August, the USDA said it will purchase $30 million (€25.3 million) worth of domestic shrimp to help alleviate food insecurity in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic.
