UNSPSC 50301526: Gala apples

The variety of apples known as gala apples

UNSPSC 50301526 Gala apples, a Commodity code, covers fresh specialty apples supplied to school nutrition programs, child care food service operations, and other state and local institutional food service venues. State and local governments procure gala apples as individual line items within larger fresh-produce and meal-program solicitations rather than as standalone contracts; the code reflects demand from school districts, county boards of education, Head Start agencies, and city departments managing cafeteria and nutrition services. Recent activity shows gala apples appearing alongside dozens of other produce varieties in multi-item RFPs and IFBs, where they are priced per case or per pound and delivered weekly or bi-weekly to central warehouses or individual school sites. The issuing bodies are predominantly school districts and school nutrition programs (Madison Metropolitan School District, Hancock County Board of Education, Dougherty County Board of Education, Bryan County Schools, Glynn County Board of Education, Henry County Schools, Muscogee County School District, Savannah-Chatham County Public School System, and others across Georgia, Texas, Wisconsin, Mississippi, Connecticut, Florida, and Oregon), along with county boards of education and specialized nutrition consortia such as the GEC Buying Cooperative serving 30 Georgia school districts. Pricing models typically employ cost-plus-fixed-fee, firm fixed-price, or USDA market-index-plus-markup structures, with domestic-sourcing preferences and Buy American compliance requirements standard across the sector.

Gala apple procurement concentrates heavily in Georgia, which accounts for the densest cluster of recent state and local solicitations, though activity extends across Texas, Wisconsin, Mississippi, Connecticut, Florida, and Oregon. Recent representative opportunities include Hancock County Board of Education's IFB for fresh produce (bid due June 26, 2026) listing gala apples among over 200 line items with specific case counts and ripeness standards; Bryan County School Nutrition Program's sealed-bid procurement for fresh produce (due May 27, 2026) estimating 1,024 cases of apples annually; Madison Metropolitan School District's RFB 4162 for petite bananas (due July 29, 2026) with separate procurements for fresh fruit and vegetable snacks under RFB 4163 in the same cycle; and the GEC Buying Cooperative's multi-district RFP SN 26-004 for fresh produce and eggs (due March 4, 2026) covering two geographic areas with approximately $5.5 million in estimated annual spending across 30 districts. Solicitation activity across this code is sustained through the school calendar cycle, with most contract periods running July 1 through June 30 and award cycles concentrated in spring months; locational sourcing preferences within 200–400 miles appear in select jurisdictions (Bulloch County, Bartow County, Madison), though most solicit nationally on competitive price and quality grounds. Insurance, HACCP, debarment certification, and Buy American compliance are universal requirements; no specific set-aside programs for disadvantaged vendors are identified across the recent opportunities.