Product Specifications & Requirements

USDA Foods meet high standards for quality and wholesomeness and must be produced and processed according to detailed USDA specifications.  

Specifications by Product:

• Fruits
• Vegetables
• Juice
• Nuts, Beans, Peas & Lentils
• Beef
• Pork
• Fish
• Other Red Meat Products
• Chicken
• Turkey
• Eggs
• Grain & Oilseed Products
• Dairy Products
• Archived Specifications
• Draft Specifications

Fruits

Canned Fruit

• Commodity Specification for Canned Fruit  March 2018 (pdf)
• Commodity Specification for Canned Fruit, June 2017 (pdf)

Frozen Fruit

• Commodity Specifications for Frozen Fruit,  June 2017 (pdf), Amendment 1, April 2018 (pdf)

Fresh Citrus Fruit

• Commodity Specifications for Fresh Citrus, August 2014 (pdf)

Fresh Fruit

• Commodity Specifications for Fresh Fruit, July 2017 (pdf)

Dried Fruit

• Commodity Specifications for Dried Fruit, September 2017 (pdf), Amendment 1, December 2017 (pdf)

Vegetables

• Commodity Specifications for Canned Vegetables, May 2017 (pdf), Amendment 1, January 2018 (pdf)

Frozen Vegetables

• Commodity Specification for Frozen Vegetables, June 2017 (pdf), Amendment 1, April 2018 (pdf), Amendment 2, May 2018 (pdf)

• Commodity Specification for Fresh Vegetables, October 2014 (pdf), Amendment 1, June 2018 (pdf)

Dehydrated Potato Products

• Commodity Specification for Dehydrated Potato Products, June 2014 (pdf), Amendment 1, Sept 2015 (pdf)

Frozen Potato Products

• Commodity Specifications for Frozen Potato Products, September 2017 (pdf)

Miscellaneous Fruit and Vegetables Products
Bulk Products for Further Processing (Miscellaneous Products)

• Commodity Specification for Bulk Products for Further Processing, August 2012 (pdf); Amendment 1 (pdf); Amendment 2 (pdf); Amendment 3, (pdf), Amendment 4 (pdf)

Juices

• Commodity Specification for Frozen Fruit Juices, June 2014 (pdf), Amendment 1 September 2015 (pdf), Amendment 2, April 2016 (pdf) 

Bottled Fruit Juices

• Commodity Specification for Bottled Juices, June 2014 (pdf)

Concentrated Fruit Juice for Manufacturing

• Commodity Specification for Concentrated Fruit Juices for Manufacturing, June 2014 (pdf)

Nuts, Beans, Peas & Lentils

• Commodity Specifications for Canned Dried Beans, September 2014 (pdf); Amendment 1, April 2016 (pdf) 

Dry Edible Beans, Peas, and Lentils

• Commodity Specification for Dry Edible Beans, Peas and Lentils, June 2014 (pdf), Amendment 1, October 2015 (pdf)

Shelled Nuts

• Commodity Specifications for Shelled Nuts, August 2014 (pdf)

Beef

Miscellaneous Beef Products (Frozen Beef Roasts, Diced Beef)

• Supplement 210 - Frozen Beef Roasts and Diced Beef, August 2017 (pdf)

Frozen Ground Beef Products

• Supplement 211 - Frozen Beef Products, August 2017 (pdf)

Fresh Boneless Beef Products

• Supplement 212 – Fresh Boneless Beef Products, August 2017 (pdf)

Beef Special Trim

• Supplement 213 – Beef Special Trim, August 2017 (pdf)

Frozen Cooked Beef and Pork Products

• Supplement 404 – Frozen, Cooked Beef and Pork Products, August 2017 (pdf)

Pork

• Supplement 304 - Frozen Pork Chops, August 2017 (pdf)

• Supplement 302 - Frozen Pork Picnics and Leg Roast, August 2017 (pdf)

Ham, Boneless, Fully-Cooked, Water-Added

• Supplement 303 - Ham, Boneless, Fully-cooked, Water-added, All Types,  August 2017 (pdf) 
• Supplement 303 - Ham, Boneless, Fully-Cooked, Water- May 2017 (pdf)

Other Red Meat Products

Other Red Meat Products

Technical Requirements (Specifications) for these commodity products are incorporated into the following Supplements to the AMS Master Solicitation.  More information about technical requirements can be found here.

• Supplement 704 – Canned Meat, April 2018 (pdf)
• Supplement 704 - Canned Meat, August 2017 (pdf)

Frozen Bison and Buffalo Products

• Supplement 603 – Frozen Bison and Buffalo Products, June 2012 (pdf); Amendment 1, February 2015 (pdf)

Frozen Lamb Products

• Supplement 602 - Frozen Lamb Products, August 2017 (pdf)

Chicken

• Federal Purchase Program Specification for Consumer Pack Chicken, March 2018 (pdf)

• Commodity Specification for Bulk Pack Chicken and Chicken Parts, April 2013 (pdf)

• Commodity Specification for Chicken Parts, April 2017 (pdf)

• Federal Purchase Program Specification for Cooked Grilled Chicken Fillet, February 2018 (pdf)
• Federal Purchase Program Specification for Oven Roasted Chicken, July 2017 (pdf)
• Federal Purchase Program Specification for Diced Chicken, August 2017 (pdf) 
• Federal Purchase Program Specification for Cooked Chicken Fajita Strips, April, 2016 (pdf)

• Supplement 801 for Frozen Cooked Chicken Strips, March 2017 (pdf)

• Commodity Specification for Canned Boned Poultry, February 2018 (pdf)
• Commodity Specification for Canned Boned Poultry, June 2016 (pdf)

Turkey

• Commodity Specification for Bulk Boneless Skinless Turkey Thigh, April 2013 (pdf)

• Federal Purchase Program Specification for Turkey and Turkey Products, March 2015 (pdf)

• Federal Purchase Program Specification Smoked Turkey Ham Products April 2018 (pdf)
• Federal Purchase Program Specification for Turkey Taco Filling, July 2017 (pdf)

• Federal Purchase Program Specification for Deli-Style Turkey Breast Products, September 2017 (pdf)

Eggs

Fresh Shell Eggs

• Federal Purchase Program Specification for Shell Eggs, April 2017 (pdf)

Egg Products

• Federal Purchase Program Specification for Egg Patty, December 2017 (pdf)
• Federal Purchase Program Specification for Whole Eggs, January 2017 (pdf)

• Federal Purchase Program Specification for All Purpose Egg Mix, June 2015 (pdf)

Grain and Oilseed Products

• Bakery Flour Products (BF13) (pdf) effective January 20, 2016
• Bakery Flour Mix (BFM4) (pdf) effective April 1, 2016
• Corn Products (CP12) (pdf) effective January 20, 2016
• Cracker Products (CR6) (pdf) effective January 22, 2016
• Fortified R-T-E Cereal Products (FC10) (pdf) effective January 19, 2016
• Frozen Pancakes (PAN2) (pdf) effective April 15, 2016
• Frozen Tortillas (TOR2) (pdf) effective April 15, 2016
• Macaroni and Cheese (MC10) (pdf) effective January 13, 2016
• Pasta Products and Egg Noodles (PA13) (pdf) effective January 13, 2016
• Processed Cereals (PC13) (pdf) October 11, 2017
• Peanut Products (PP15) (pdf) effective April 7, 2017
• Instant Rice Cereal Products (RC10) (pdf) effective January 20, 2016
• Rice Products (RP5) (pdf) effective February 4, 2016
• Sunflower Seed Butter (SSB7) (pdf) effective April 7, 2017
• Vegetable Oil Products (VP10) (pdf) effective January 22, 2016
• Wheat Flour Products (WF16) (pdf) effective April 19, 2017
• Wild Rice (WR2) (pdf) effective July 28, 2016

Dairy

Dairy Products Purchase Specs:

• Evaporated Milk (EVD4) (pdf) effective Jul 29, 2013
• Infant Formula (IFD4) (pdf) effective Aug 16, 2013
• Instant Nonfat Dry Milk (IMD4) (pdf) effective Aug 8, 2013
• Mozzarella Cheese (DMOZ5) (pdf) effective Sep 9, 2016
• Natural American Cheese (DNAC4) (pdf) effective Sep 10, 2014
• Packaged Butter (PBD6) (pdf) effective Feb 13, 2018
• Pasteurized Process American Cheese (DPPC3) (pdf) effective Sep 25, 2013
• Ultra-High Temperature Milk (UHD5) (pdf) effective May 07, 2014
• Yogurt Products (DYO2) (pdf) effective January 1, 2017

Additional Resources

• Commercial Item Descriptions (CIDs) - a set of industry standards for fruits, vegetables and specialty crops.
• Institutional Meat Specifications (IMPS) - a series of meat product specifications used by Federal, State, and Local Government agencies, schools, restaurants, hotels, and other food service entities to procure products.