Board approves advertising bids for bread, milk, food and produce for 2026–27 school year

At its Feb. 10 committee meeting, the St. Bernard Parish School Board granted permission to advertise bids for several school-food contract categories for the 2026–27 school year, including bread, milk, all food products (canned/shelf-stable), and produce.

Food-service staff presented the advertising schedules and explained that produce bids are issued monthly because of price fluctuation. Board members asked questions about local seafood sourcing and whether a prior state grant that supported local seafood purchases was still available; staff said the prior local grant was not available for the current year and USDA funding had not been awarded for that purpose.

Motions were made and seconded for each category; the floor record shows unanimous approvals. Board members and staff discussed the impact of forthcoming federal school-food standards (removal of certain dyes and other formulation changes) and said these could increase costs during the manufacturers' transition period.

Staff noted additional actions to manage costs, including attending industry vendor events, tapping commodity (USDA) resources for protein, and conducting fruit tastings to increase acceptance among students. No procurement awards were made at the meeting; the actions were to advertise and solicit competitive bids for the coming year.