SEAFOODNEWS.COM [SCOM] — January 20, 2014 — The USDA said it will purchase $20 million of canned Alaskan pink salmon products that will be distributed to food banks across the US following a peition by Sen. Lisa Murkowski to take advantage of the state's fishery.
The multi-million deal follows a petition from Alaskan Sen. Lisa Murkowski to get the USDA to invest in higher quality proteins for food deprived Americans and that the Department should take advantage of Alaskan pink salmon to fill the void.
“Every Alaskan knows that our salmon is brain food and full of protein, so I suggested the Department of Agriculture consider our nutritious and delicious salmon for food banks nationwide experiencing high levels of need.”
Murkowski was the lead Republican on a bipartisan August letter with over 20 of her Senate colleagues recommending more be done by the USDA in light of increased need across the country through The Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP) – leading to last week’s $126 million purchase of fruits and vegetables.
“When I initially encouraged Secretary Vilsack to consider using TEFAP funds to help provide healthy food for Americans in need, my goal was to ensure that food banks and their partners would have greater access to a wide variety of healthy foods,” said Murkowski.
This story originally appeared on Seafood.com, a subscription site. It is reprinted with permission.