Final Supplement 603 Frozen Bison Items - April 2026

The Agricultural Marketing Service issued Special Notice 12-3J14-Notice-26-011 regarding updated specifications for frozen bison items. This notice, classified under NAICS 311611 Animal (except Poultry) Slaughtering and PSC 8905 MEAT, POULTRY, AND FISH, outlines the requirements established in Final Supplement 603 Frozen Bison Items - April 2026. The response deadline for this announcement is January 1, 2027.

The updated supplement introduces several changes to the procurement and handling of frozen bison products, including new verbiage for the domestic origin of meat components. Vendors must now record truck seal numbers on the Bill of Lading per the Master Solicitation and document the product temperature at the time of loading on the contractor’s checkloading shipping documentation. Additionally, the supplement replaces previous terminology for containers with the terms primary package and shipping case throughout the technical documents.

Technical requirements for metal detection validation now mandate the use of all three metals during each testing interval and include specific procedural requirements. The supplement also reflects the name change of the animal welfare organization NAMI to the Meat Institute and updates the Certificate of Conformance to replace the delivery date with the shipping date. This notice includes two attachments: Product Specifications & Requirements and the full text of the updated supplement.