USDA expects to buy Alaska pollock and pink salmon for fiscal 2027 emergency food aid

The U.S. Department of Agriculture expects to buy frozen Alaska pollock fillets, whole-grain breaded Alaska pollock fish sticks and canned pink salmon for The Emergency Food Assistance Program in fiscal 2027, according to a notice published Tuesday.

The program gives food to states to provide nutrition assistance to people in need. The fish is part of an estimated $481.5 million in food the agriculture secretary is directed to buy for the program this fiscal year. Separately, about $360 million in surplus foods bought in fiscal 2026 is scheduled for delivery to states this year, and Alaska pollock and groundfish are on that list too.

The notice says the amount of each item bought will depend on the prices USDA must pay and how much each state requests. Changing market conditions could add foods or drop listed ones.

Alaska pollock shares the protein list with Atlantic pollock, Atlantic haddock, catfish and shrimp, along with beef, chicken, pork, eggs and peanut butter. The department's food availability list, which gives estimated prices states can use to figure the value of their orders, packs frozen pollock fillets in cases of 20 two-pound bags. Pink salmon ships in cases of 24 cans at 14.75 ounces each.

Earlier this month, USDA asked small businesses to bid on about 1.7 million pounds of Alaska pollock, plus some catfish, for federal food assistance programs, with bids due Nov. 12.

Each state's share of the program's food follows a formula. Sixty percent rests on how many residents live below the poverty level. Forty percent rests on the state's share of the nation's unemployed.

State officials then decide which eligible recipient agencies receive the food and how much. Under the notice, those agencies may prepare meals with it or distribute it to households to eat at home.

Shiela Corley, acting administrator of the department's Food and Nutrition Administration, signed the notice.