APPROVED

FEDERAL PURCHASE 

PROGRAM SPECIFICATION 

(FPPS) FOR CATFISH 

STRIPS, BREADED, OVEN 

READY, FROZEN

Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS)

Livestock, Poultry and Seed (LPS) Program 

Food Safety and Commodity Specification (FSCS) Division

Room 2628 S-Bldg, Phone: (202) 692-0342

Supersedes: FPPS for Catfish Strips, Breaded, Oven 

Ready March 2015 – Changes from previous requirements 

in blue

Effective: February 2016

Approved by________CMS 

Date Issued: 08/22/12 

Date Revised: 02/05/16

100 ITEM DESCRIPTION 

110 Breaded, Oven Ready, Freshwater Catfish Strips, Frozen 

120 Portion Weight – The portion weight for breaded, oven ready, catfish strips 

shall be 2.0 ounces. 

130 Formulation – The frozen, breaded, oven ready, catfish strips shall consist of 

not less than 75% catfish flesh in the raw formula. 

140 Packing – The catfish strips shall be packaged in twenty (20) 2-pound, eight 

(8) 5-pound or four (4) 10-pound immediate container bags and placed into 

shipping containers weighing 40 pounds. 

150 Delivery Unit – Each delivery unit shall consist of 1,000 shipping containers 

with a net weight of 40,000 pounds. 

200 CHECKLIST OF REQUIREMENTS 

201 Product shall be produced under the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), 

Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) regulations and the AMS checklist 

of requirements. 

210 MATERIALS 

210.1 Contractors’ technical proposal shall describe in detail the necessary 

processing steps, supported with digital images, to comply with the 

requirements below. 
Approved by________CMS 

Date Issued: 08/22/12 

Date Revised: 02/05/16 2 

211 FISH FLESH 

211.1 Domestic Origin of Fish Flesh – The catfish shall be harvested from 

commercial, U.S. farm-raised freshwater catfish of the Ictaluridae family: 

channel catfish (Ictalurus punctatus), blue catfish (Ictalurus furcatus), and 

white catfish (Ictalurus catus)) and its hybrids. 

211.2 Fresh Only – Only fresh (not previously frozen) catfish shall be allowed. 

211.3 Flesh Characteristics – The catfish flesh shall have characteristics of good 

quality, including, but not limited to, flavor, texture, and odor and shall be 

evaluated during the prototype review. 

211.4 Fillets – The catfish strips shall be prepared from trimmed catfish shank fillets 

(without belly-flap section). 

211.5 Objectionable Materials – The Contractor shall identify and develop a strategy 

and have a written quality plan to effectively remove all bones, skin, organs, 

tails, fins, and foreign materials. 

211.6 Fish Flesh Content – The breaded, oven ready, catfish strips, frozen shall 

consist of not less than 75% catfish flesh in the raw formula. 

211.7 Catfish injected with added ingredients is prohibited. 

212 INGREDIENTS

212.1 Domestic Origin of Ingredients – Significant ingredients (more than 1%) shall 

be derived from U.S. produced products when U. S. produced products are 

available from ingredient suppliers. 

212.2 Batter/Breading – The catfish strips shall be breaded in a cornmeal based 

breading similar to those normally used for commercial marketed breaded 

catfish strips. Additional ingredients that include spices, seasonings, salt, etc. 

may be used as needed to produce the desired flavor, color, texture, and 

crispness. 

212.2.1 The batter/breading shall be made with whole grain meal/flour or whole grain 

rich meal/flour using one of the following options: 

212.2.1.1 Option 1: 100% whole grain, or 

 

212.2.1.2 Option 2: whole grain-rich - shall contain at least 50% whole grains and the 

remaining grains in the product shall be enriched. 

212.3 Monosodium Glutamate (MSG) – Use of MSG is not allowed. 
Approved by________CMS 

Date Issued: 08/22/12 

Date Revised: 02/05/16 3 

213 FINISHED PRODUCT REQUIREMENTS 

213.1 Sodium – Maximum sodium content shall be 360 mg or less per 100 grams. 

213.2 Fat – Maximum fat content shall be 9 grams or less per 100 grams. 

213.3 Trans fat – 0 grams per 100 grams. 

213.4 Portion Weight –The portion weight for catfish strips shall be 2.0 ounces and 

shall have a uniform shape and size to meet the portion weight requirement. 

Quality assurance plans shall apply upper and lower specification limits of 2.5 

and 1.5 ounces, respectively. 

214 INDIVIDUALLY QUICK FROZEN (IQF) 

 

214.1 The breaded, oven ready, catfish strips shall be IQF so the individual strips do 

not stick together after they are packaged and packed. The product 

temperature at the time of shipment and delivery shall not exceed 0°F. 

215 PREPARATION/COOKING METHODS 

215.1 The breaded catfish strips shall be prepared (par-fried) so that the end-user 

may bake them in a conventional or convection type oven. Baking instructions 

shall be declared and appear on the individual bags (immediate container). 

216 METAL DETECTION 

216.1 Detection of stainless steel, ferrous, and non-ferrous (e.g., lead, copper, and 

aluminum) metals is required. The equipment, location, detection procedure, 

sensitivity levels, frequency of equipment validation, and corrective action 

procedures shall be identified and described. 

217 FINISHED PRODUCT EVALUATION 

217.1 The finished products shall be evaluated for cooked flavor, odor, color, and 

texture in accordance with established sampling and cooking procedures 

developed by the contractor. 

220 PREPARATION FOR DELIVERY 

221 PACKAGING AND PACKING 

221.1 Packaging1/ – The catfish strips shall be packaged in twenty (20) 2-pound, 

eight (8) 5-pound or four (4) 10-pound immediate container bags. The 

immediate container bags shall be closed by heat seal or metal clips. 

1/The contracting officer shall designate the packaging orientation permitted for each solicitation. 
Approved by________CMS 

Date Issued: 08/22/12 

Date Revised: 02/05/16 4 

221.2 Shipping Container - The shipping containers (cases) shall be in compliance 

with the National Motor Freight Classification or Uniform Freight 

Classification. 

221.3 Net Weight – Immediate containers shall be packed into new 40-pound net 

weight shipping containers of a size to accommodate the product without 

slack filling or overfilling.

221.4 Style and Size of Container – Only one size and style of immediate and 

shipping container shall be offered in an individual shipping unit. 

222 LABELING 

222.1 Both immediate and shipping containers shall be labeled to include all 

information required by FSIS regulations, be illustrated in the contractor’s 

technical proposal and contain the required information listed below. 

222.2 Immediate Container – The following information shall be on each bag: 

222.2.1 A traceability code that includes information regarding production 

establishment, production date and production lot. 

222.2.2 Nutrition facts based on actual nutritional analysis of the product. 

222.2.3 Baking Instructions. 

222.3 Shipping Container –The following information shall be on each case: 

222.3.1 USDA Shield – The shield shall be at least 2 inches high and appear on top or 

on the principal display panel of each case. 

 

222.3.2 The applicable purchase order number. 

222.3.3 A traceability code that includes information regarding production 

establishment, production date and production lot. 

222.3.4 Nutrition facts based on actual nutritional analysis of the product. 

222.3.5 Baking Instructions (optional). 

222.3.6 Material Number – 100200 for the 2-pound bags, and 100201 for the 5-pound 

and 10-pound bags. 

222.3.7 Product name – Catfish Strips, Breaded, Oven Ready, Frozen. 
Approved by________CMS 

Date Issued: 08/22/12 

Date Revised: 02/05/16 5 

222.3.8 An allergen statement in a format which complies with the Food Allergen 

Labeling and Consumer Protection Act (FALCPA) for any product which 

contains milk, eggs, fish, crustacean shellfish, tree nuts, peanuts, soy or 

wheat; e.g. Allergen: This product contains ______. 

222.3.9 Ingredient declaration. 

223 PALLETIZED UNIT LOADS 

223.1 All product shall be stacked on new or well-maintained pallets and palletized 

with shrink wrap plastic, unless otherwise specified in the invitation. Pallet 

loads shall be stacked in a manner that minimizes the overhang of the 

shipping containers over the edges of the pallets and exposes each shipping 

container’s principal display panel to facilitate certification examinations. 

230 PRODUCT ASSURANCE 

231 QUALITY ASSURANCE 

231.1 Facilities used in fulfilling USDA contracts shall operate in accordance with all 

applicable FSIS regulations. All breaded oven ready, catfish strips, frozen 

shall be produced under continuous FSIS inspection 

232 DELIVERED PRODUCT 

232.1 Delivery Unit - Each delivery unit shall consist of 1,000 shipping containers 

with a net weight of 40,000 pounds. 

232.2 Sealing – All products shall be delivered to AMS assigned destinations under 

seal with tamper proof, tamper resistant, serially numbered, high security 

seals that meet the American Society for Testing and Materials Standard 

(ASTM) F 1157-04 and/or the International Organization for Standards (ISO) 

17712-2010 as required under this Supplement. Seals shall be >1⁄8th inch 

diameter cable, high-security bolt, or equivalent. 

233 WARRANTY AND COMPLAINT RESOLUTION 

233.1 Warranty – The contractor shall guarantee that the product complies with all 

contractual requirements. 

233.2 Complaint Resolution – The contractor’s technical proposal shall provide the 

steps taken to resolve complaints received on the product, i.e., point of 

contact, cause and effect analysis, product replacement, monetary 

compensation and corrective and preventative actions taken. 
Approved by________CMS 

Date Issued: 08/22/12 

Date Revised: 02/05/16 6 

240 NON-CONFORMING PRODUCT 

241.1 The contractor shall include a plan and supporting documentation to assure 

that non-conforming product is not delivered under USDA contracts. The plan 

shall address 1) control and segregation of non-conforming product, 2) 

removal of any USDA markings, and 3) disposition of non-conforming 

product, including vendor documentation of final disposition (e.g., diverted to 

commercial production, cooked or destroyed). 

250 CONTRACTOR CHECKLOADING 

251 Contractor shall perform checkloading examinations at the time of shipment 

and issue a contractor’s certificate to accompany each shipment that includes 

all of the following information: 

251.1 Purchase Order Number/Purchase Order Line Item Number; 

251.2 Sales Order Number/Sales Order Line Item Number; 

251.3 Destination of shipment; 

251.4 Name of Product and applicable Material Number; 

251.5 Shipping Date; 

251.6 Production lot number(s) and date each lot was produced along with shipping 

container and immediate container code(s) and the code used that provides 

traceability to establishment number, production lot and date; 

251.7 Count of shipping containers and total projected net weight in each production 

lot; 

251.8 Identity of car or truck (car numbers and letters, seals, truck license, etc.) as 

applicable; 

251.9 Contractor certification that product conforms with the applicable specification 

(FPPS-COR-2016); 

251.10 Count and projected net weight verified and; 

251.11 Signature of company official responsible for checkloading.