UNSPSC 50406411: Maryland red sweet potatoes

The variety of sweet potatoes known as maryland red sweet potatoes

UNSPSC 50406411 Maryland red sweet potatoes (Commodity) represents a narrow agricultural product category that state and local governments buy primarily through school nutrition programs and institutional food service contracts. The recent opportunities block shows minimal direct procurement under this specific code; instead, sweet potatoes appear embedded in broader fresh produce, grocery, and food service solicitations where they are one line item among dozens or hundreds of produce offerings. The Texas Department of Criminal Justice has issued standalone bids for sweet potatoes for canning (IFB IW253121, June 23, 2026, and IFB IW242176, March 23, 2026), but most activity treats sweet potatoes as part of comprehensive produce portfolios rather than standalone commodity buys. School districts across Georgia and other states solicit fresh produce including sweet potatoes as components of child nutrition programs, farm-to-school initiatives, and USDA Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Program deliveries, but they do not isolate Maryland-sourced or any region-specific sweet potato procurement in the available records. Where sweet potatoes appear in recent bids—such as in Bulloch County Schools' local produce RFP (which specifies 200-mile sourcing radius and includes sweet potatoes at $2.00 per pound historical pricing) and Bartow County Schools' local fresh fruit and vegetable RFP—they compete alongside multiple other produce items rather than forming a standalone contracting vehicle.

The issuing bodies pursuing produce solicitations that include or could include sweet potatoes span school districts (Madison Metropolitan School District in Wisconsin, Savannah-Chatham County Public School System in Georgia, Northside Independent School District in Texas, Hillsborough County Public Schools in Florida, Austin Independent School District in Texas), state departments (Texas Department of Criminal Justice, State of Georgia), and regional cooperative purchasing vehicles (GEC Buying Cooperative serving 30 Georgia school districts). The geographic spread of recent opportunities concentrates in Georgia, Texas, and Florida, with secondary activity in Wisconsin, Connecticut, and Missouri. Representative recent solicitations show that sweet potatoes, when procured, are typically sourced as part of fresh produce contracts—such as Bulloch County Schools' RFP for local fresh produce (proposal due May 4, 2026) and the Texas Department of Criminal Justice's IFB for sweet potatoes for canning (IFB IW253121, due June 23, 2026)—with institutional buyers emphasizing traceability, delivery logistics, food safety certification (HACCP), and compliance with Buy American provisions. Standalone sweet potato sourcing remains a minor activity in the available records; the code's real procurement value sits within composite produce and institutional food service contracts where sweet potatoes trade as fungible agricultural inputs rather than differentiated Maryland-origin products.