UNSPSC 50585712: Non GMO sea lettuce

The variety of Non GMO sea vegetables known as Non GMO sea lettuce. This means that they are produced without the use of methods that genetically modify organisms by means that are not possible under natural conditions. Such methods include cell fusion, microencapsulation and macro-encapsulation, and recombinant DNA technology (including gene deletion, gene doubling, introducing a foreign gene, and changing the positions of genes when achieved by recombinant DNA technology).

Traditional methods of breeding, conjugation, fermentation, hybridization, in vitro fertilization, or tissue culture are considered to be non-GMO.

UNSPSC 50585712 Non GMO sea lettuce is a Commodity code that describes a single produce item, yet the recent state and local opportunities tagged to this code show no solicitations for sea lettuce or seaweed products of any kind. Instead, the opportunities reflect institutional food service procurement for fresh produce broadly—fruits, vegetables, and eggs for school nutrition programs and state operations—with sea lettuce absent from every specification sheet, bid table, and scope of work in the record. The issuing bodies are school districts (ranging from small rural systems to large urban districts like Austin ISD, Northside ISD in San Antonio, and McAllen ISD), county school systems (Douglas County, Glynn County, Liberty County, Muscogee County, Bulloch County, Early County, and Savannah-Chatham in Georgia), state purchasing offices (Georgia), and specialized transit or food-service cooperatives (GEC Buying Cooperative). The work being solicited is conventional fresh-produce contracting: weekly or twice-weekly delivery of apples, bananas, carrots, broccoli, lettuce, tomatoes, peppers, berries, citrus, eggs, and specialty items to school cafeterias, with pricing indexed to USDA terminal market reports, HACCP certification required, Buy American compliance mandatory, and contract terms typically running July 1 through June 30 with renewal options.

Recent activity concentrates in Georgia (Douglas County, Glynn County, Liberty County, Muscogee County, Bulloch County, Early County, Savannah-Chatham, and state-level procurements) and Texas (Austin ISD, Northside ISD San Antonio, McAllen ISD), with secondary activity in Florida (Hillsborough County) and Missouri (Rockwood R-VI). Representative recent opportunities include Early County Board of Education's RFP for food vendors with bids due June 8, 2026; Northside ISD's RFP 2026-048 for fresh produce due May 7, 2026, requiring USDA Child Nutrition Reimbursable compliance and Texas-grown preference; Bulloch County's IFP for locally-grown produce (within 200 miles) with bids due May 4, 2026; Douglas County's RFP through GEC Buying Cooperative for 30 school districts covering approximately $5.5 million in annual produce and eggs spending, with proposals due March 4, 2026; and Glynn County's IFB for fresh produce due April 14, 2026. The code assignment to non-GMO sea lettuce appears to be a tagging error—no state or local buyer is actively soliciting seaweed or marine vegetables under this code.