UNSPSC 50455801: Frozen organic agar-agar

The variety of organic sea vegetables known as organic agar-agar that has been frozen for preservation.

UNSPSC 50455801 Frozen organic agar-agar is a Commodity code that nominally denotes a specialty gelling agent used in food preparation and laboratory settings. Recent state and local procurement activity under this code, however, shows no solicitations for agar-agar products; instead, the code has been applied to broad food-service procurement opportunities spanning fresh produce, frozen grocery items, eggs, and general food supplies for school nutrition programs and state agencies. The issuing bodies are predominantly school districts—including the Early County Board of Education, City Schools of Decatur, Rockwood R-VI School District, Savannah-Chatham County Public School System, and Dallas Independent School District—alongside state agencies such as the State of Georgia and the Douglas County School System procuring through cooperative purchasing vehicles like the GEC Buying Cooperative. Work solicited includes hundreds of line items of fresh produce, frozen and grocery staples, eggs, dairy, meats, vegetables, fruits, grains, condiments, and miscellaneous food-service products delivered to school sites or central food-service warehouses, with contracts typically running July 1 through June 30 and emphasizing compliance with USDA standards, HACCP plans, Buy American provisions, E-Verify authorization, and domestic sourcing preferences.

Geographic activity concentrates in Georgia and Missouri, with additional recent solicitations from Texas. Representative opportunities include the Douglas County School System's RFP SN 26-003 for food supply and distribution services (estimated annual expenditure approximately $9 million, proposals due February 18, 2026) and RFP SN 26-004 for fresh produce and eggs serving 30 districts across two Georgia areas through the GEC Buying Cooperative (estimated spending $4.4 million for Area One and $1.1 million for Area Two, proposals due March 4, 2026); the Savannah-Chatham County Public School System's Bid 26-34 for 72 fresh produce items with delivery to 60 school sites (questions due April 8, 2026, sealed bids due April 23, 2026); the City Schools of Decatur's IFB for frozen foods and grocery items to ten schools (virtual pre-bid April 29, 2026, sealed bids due May 15, 2026); and Dallas Independent School District's RFP for various food products not available through main commodity bids (bids due April 2, 2026). The mismatch between the code's nominal scope and actual procurement suggests the code is being used as a catch-all for diverse food-service categories rather than specifically tracking agar-agar sourcing.