The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) last week announced it will purchase $20 million of cheddar cheese to be provided to families through the agency’s nutrition assistance programs. USDA said it will make the purchase to encourage domestic cheese consumption.

USDA also said it will use a new, streamlined process to make these purchases, which will involve proactively monitoring market conditions and providing a more predictable and consistent process for determining when it will make purchases.

USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) purchases a variety of high-quality food each year to support the National School Lunch Program, the Commodity Supplemental Food Program, the Food Distribution Program on Indian Reservations and the Emergency Food Assistance Program. The agency also makes emergency food purchases for distribution to victims of natural disasters.

According to AMS, solicitations for the cheese purchases will be issued in the near future and will be available electronically through the Web-Based Supply Chain Management (WBSCM) system.

IDFA’s cheese company members may visit Selling Food to USDA page on the AMS website to access more information.

Members with questions may contact Cary Frye, IDFA vice president of regulatory affairs, at cfrye@idfa.org.