UNSPSC 50301550: Lady apples

The variety of apples known as lady apples

UNSPSC 50301550 Lady apples, a Commodity code, represents a narrow product category within school nutrition and child care food service procurement. State and local governments buy lady apples—small, premium apple varieties typically between 2.5 and 3 inches in diameter—as components of broader meal programs serving K–12 students, preschool children, and senior adults, where apple variety and size matter for portion control, shelf appeal, and compliance with program nutritional standards. Recent opportunities reflect integration of lady apples into large multi-item grocery and produce solicitations rather than standalone apple contracts; the City of Edinburg, Texas, Child and Adult Care Food Program (RFP 2026-017, due August 4, 2026) bundles apples within a five-category food supply scope serving approximately 400 children daily, while numerous Georgia school districts—Dougherty County, Hancock County, Bryan County, Bartow County, Liberty County, Savannah-Chatham County, Glynn County, and Bulloch County—each issued fresh-produce IFBs and RFPs during the March–June 2026 window that list multiple apple varieties by name (Gala, Granny Smith, Fuji, Ambrosia, Honeycrisp, Jazz, Red, Gold, and others) as line items within broader 40–72-item produce schedules rather than isolated purchases. School districts and child nutrition authorities dominate the issuing-body mix, with secondary activity from municipal senior services programs and Head Start agencies; cooperative purchasing vehicles such as the GEC Buying Cooperative (serving 30 Georgia school districts through dual-area procurement) and multistate district consortia amplify procurement scale and buying power.

Geographic activity concentrates in Georgia, Texas, Florida, and Connecticut, reflecting the density of school districts and child nutrition programs in large southeastern and south-central states. Texas school districts—Austin ISD (RFP 26RFP034), McAllen ISD (RFP 2026-1029), and Hillsborough County Public Schools in Tampa (RFP 26039RFPDST)—and Georgia school districts—particularly those participating in the GEC Buying Cooperative and independent districts such as Muscogee County and Henry County Schools—generate the most recent contract opportunities. Representative recent procurements include the Hancock County Board of Education (Georgia) fresh-produce IFB (due June 26, 2026) specifying over 200 line items including six named apple varieties; the GEC Buying Cooperative RFP (due March 4, 2026) covering approximately 70 produce line items across 30 districts with estimated annual spending of approximately $5.5 million; and the City of Bridgeport Department of Public Purchases IFB (due June 30, 2026) spanning over 1,100 line items for the Bridgeport Board of Education's Food & Nutrition Services, with all deliveries requiring Buy American certification of at least 51 percent domestic agricultural content. Competition under this code occurs within larger multi-vendor, multi-item produce procurement frameworks where individual apple varieties—including lady apples when specified—compete on price, quality, traceability, and compliance with federal nutrition standards and state local-vendor preferences; pursuit viability depends on distributor capacity to serve institutional delivery schedules (typically Monday–Friday morning deliveries to multiple school or program sites) and compliance with HACCP, food-safety documentation, and insurance requirements standardly required across school nutrition contracts.