The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) has announced that it is to purchase a number of fresh produce commodities for use with a variety of federal food and nutrition programmes that it runs in the country.
According to the USDA, it is planning to invest a total of US$161m in an array of fresh produce, spending US$32m on both fresh and processed apples, US$18m on potatoes, US$7m on strawberries and US$3m on fresh and canned pears.
Meanwhile, US$21m will go on red tart cherries, US$1.1m will be spent on blackberries, US$5m will go towards dried figs, US$9.3m is to be spent on dried plums and US$18m is to go towards cranberry products, the USDA said.
'These purchases are a 'win-win' because they help provide healthy food to kids and families throughout the country, while benefiting producers by providing a customer for these products,' said US agricultural secretary Tom Vilsack.
The purchases, made by the USDA's Agricultural Marketing Service, goes towards schemes such as the National School Lunch Programme, the School Breakfast Programme, the Summer Food Service Programme, and the Food Distribution Programme on Indian Reservations, the Commodity Supplemental Food Programme and The Emergency Food Assistance Programme. USDA also makes emergency food purchases for distribution to victims of natural disasters.
