UNSPSC 50406421: Purple sweet potato

Variety of sweet potatoes known as purple sweet potatoes.

UNSPSC 50406421 Purple sweet potato, a Commodity code, covers the procurement of purple sweet potatoes for institutional and commercial food service operations. State and local governments acquire this commodity primarily through their food service departments, corrections departments, health and human services agencies, and school nutrition programs to supply institutional cafeterias, detention facilities, mental health centers, senior service programs, and school meal operations. The scope encompasses bulk procurement of fresh produce—specifically purple sweet potatoes—destined for kitchen preparation, processing, and meal delivery at state-operated facilities and school districts.

The issuing bodies span state departments of corrections and criminal justice, state health and human services commissions, school districts, and county departments of education across multiple states. Recent solicitations show Texas Department of Criminal Justice, Texas Health and Human Services Commission, and Georgia school districts as repeat procurers of fresh produce including potatoes and related root vegetables. The geographic spread of recent activity concentrates in Texas, Georgia, Illinois, and Florida, with activity clustered around state institutional food service and school nutrition procurement in the past four months. Representative recent opportunities include the Texas Department of Criminal Justice's solicitation IW253121 for sweet potatoes for canning (IFB, due June 23, 2026), the Early County Board of Education's RFP for food products including fresh and canned vegetables (due June 8, 2026), and the Dougherty County Board of Education's sealed-bid procurement for fresh produce including root vegetables and tubers for 24 school nutrition sites (IFB, due June 16, 2026 at 11:30 a.m.). Purple sweet potatoes appear as line items within broader fresh produce and food supply contracts rather than as standalone commodity procurements; vendors typically bid them as part of mixed-vegetable or root-vegetable portfolios priced by unit or case with delivery on F.O.B. Destination terms and firm pricing for contract duration.