UNSPSC 50402712: Lathom self-blanching celery

The variety of celery known as lathom self-blanching celery

UNSPSC 50402712 Lathom self-blanching celery is a Commodity code that sits at the bottom of a produce taxonomy, but the recent state and local opportunities tagged under this code predominantly solicit broader fresh-produce contracts spanning dozens of line items rather than celery specifically. School districts, county boards of education, and state agencies across the South and Texas are the primary buyers, procuring fresh fruits and vegetables for child nutrition programs, institutional feeding (prisons, senior centers), and USDA Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Program grants. The work being solicited ranges from sealed bids for single-vendor annual supply agreements to requests for proposals from multiple qualified vendors competing on price, quality, and delivery performance; contracts typically run July through June with three to four optional one-year renewals and emphasize domestic sourcing, HACCP compliance, Buy American provisions, and weekly or twice-weekly delivery to multiple school or institutional sites.

Georgia school districts dominate recent activity, with sealed-bid procurements from Bartow County, Dougherty County, Glynn County, Bryan County, Bulloch County, Douglas County, Muscogee County, Liberty County, Savannah-Chatham, and Henry County all posting between mid-February and late May 2026. Texas entities including the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, McAllen Independent School District, Northside Independent School District, Austin Independent School District, and Hillsborough County Public Schools in Florida also show heavy activity. The Texas Department of Criminal Justice alone has posted multiple bids for root vegetables (carrots, white potatoes, sweet potatoes for institutional canning) with June and March deadlines. Representative recent opportunities include Madison Metropolitan School District's RFB 4163 for fresh fruit and vegetable snacks (response due July 29, 2026), requiring 5,900 servings weekly sourced within 400 miles of Madison and Wisconsin with a $0.20 per pound organic preference; Bartow County Schools' RFP 10-2026-019 (proposals due June 22, 2026) seeking local fresh fruits and vegetables within 400 miles with delivery to a central warehouse; and Bulloch County's IFP PE55612NONST2027000000031 (proposals due May 4, 2026) for locally grown produce within 200 miles supporting a Farm to School program serving 11,200 students. Head Start of Greater Dallas' IFB 26-GP (bids due June 24, 2026) seeks primary and secondary suppliers of frozen foods, produce, and meat for child care with estimated value $969,460.94 and federal CACFP requirements. Most contracts use cost-plus-fixed-fee or unit-price models with pricing tied to USDA market indices or firm fixed pricing, require $500,000 to $2,000,000 general liability insurance, and award based on lowest responsive and responsible bid with potential for multiple vendors on a line-item basis.