USDA plans to buy more walleye

The U.S. Department of Agriculture is planning to purchase 108,000 pounds of walleye fillets, according to a 17 August solicitation.

The walleye will be used in the National School Lunch Program and other federal food assistance programs, according to the government’s solicitation. Offers are due 23 August, and contracts are expected to be announced by midnight, 30 August.

The fillets are to be sent to Idaho and Missouri, with deliveries to take place between 1 October and 31 December. Idaho is seeking one order of 36,000 pounds of fillets, while Missouri is seeking two individual orders of 36,000 pounds of fillets.

In December 2022, the USDA bought 108,000 pounds of walleye fillets from Redby, Minnesota, U.S.A.-based Red Lake Nation Fisheries for USD 1.3 million (EUR 1.2 million). Deliveries were to have taken place between January and April 2023.

Red Lake Nation Fisheries has won all four walleye contracts USDA has issued since December 2020.

The USDA has already made several massive purchases of salmon and pollock products in 2023. Most recently, the department purchased USD 118 million (EUR 109 million) worth of Atlantic pollock fillets, haddock fillets, rockfish fillets, Pacific shrimp, Pacific whiting fillets, wild salmon fillets, and canned salmon.

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