Seafood Business articles from February 2002

Seafood Business archives from February 2002

Farmers face uphill battle: foreign competition, wary investors and lack of uniform reds pose major hurdles.(Statistical Data Included)
February 1, 2002... Farmed seafood provides buyers consistent supply at a stable price. It's no wonder aquacultured product has become the core seafood resource for many restaurants and retail outlets. But is the U.S. aquaculture industry growing fast enough to...

Rubio's plays up steak, chicken: fresh Mexican QSR backs off national expansion, works to boost sales. (Foodservice).(quick-service restaurant)(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
February 1, 2002... Rubio's Baja Grill is retreating to its home markets in California and Arizona to polish its image as a Mexican steak and chicken quick-service restaurant before proceeding with further national expansion. This month, Rubio's is testing a...

Tight import regulations on the way: seafood importers prepare for increased U.S. port inspections. (Food Safety).(Brief Article)
February 1, 2002... Seafood importers are bracing for the consequences of a Congressional bill designed to prevent bioterrorist acts from occurring in the United States. The Bioterrorism Preparedness Act of 2001 would give the Food and Drug Administration...

FDA rules on catfish labeling. (Late News).(Food and Drug Administration)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2002... Following a new labeling law limiting the use of the term "catfish" to the Ictalariidae family, the Food and Drug Administration advises basa and tra importers to be as descriptive as possible when choosing new market names. For example,...

LJS pairs with Pizza Inn. (Late News).(Long John Silver's Restaurant)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2002... Long John Silver's and Pizza Inn, a Southwestern pizza, pasta and sandwich chain, in January opened a co-branded restaurant in Whitley City, Ky. The new restaurant features Long John Silver's menu of batter-dipped fish, shrimp and chicken...

Chefs boycott Chilean sea bass. (Late News).(Brief Article)
February 1, 2002... About 130 chefs at restaurants across the country have removed Chilean sea bass from their menus as part of a National Environmental Trust campaign aimed at ending illegal fishing of the prized white-tablecloth fish. The group planned to...

NMFS reinforces shrimp-drug ban. (Late News).(National Marine Fisheries Service)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2002... The National Fisheries Institute has asked governments of shrimp-producing nat- ions to strictly monitor or ban the use of chloramphenicol, an antibiotic drug that kills bacteria in shrimp farms. Late last year, European Union officials...

@.com. (Newsline).(evaluation of food web sites)
February 1, 2002... @ www.cfsan.fda.gov provides "Food Security Preventive Measures Guidance" for food distributors, retailers and restaurateurs. Published by the Food and Drug Administration, the eight-page document outlines measures food handlers can take to...

Great Eastern withdraws its antidumping petition: two price hikes from PEI mussel producers contribute to decision. (Trade).(Brief Article)
February 1, 2002... Great Eastern Mussel Farms in early January requested that the International Trade Commission withdraw the antidumping petition the Tenants Harbor, Maine, company filed against Prince Edward Island mussel producers last year. The...

Wanchese opens state-of-art plant: company pursues value-added product strategy to grow customer base. (Processing).(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
February 1, 2002... The Wanchese Fish Co. opened a state-of-the-art processing and cold storage facility in Suffolk, Va., in December to attract new customers and develop value-added products. Wanchese plans to create and produce ready-to-eat seafood meals...

Shrimpers file draft petition: processors question antidumping charge. (Trade).(Brief Article)
February 1, 2002... West Coast shrimp fishermen are moving ahead with plans to file an antidumping petition with the U.S. International Trade Commission against Canadian shrimp producers, without help from domestic processors. As of Jan. 15, the ITC was still...

Facts & figures. (Newsline).(snow crab)(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
February 1, 2002... Snow crab 196 Alaska's 1999 snow crab quota, in millions of pounds 31 Alaska's 2002 snow crab quota, in millions of pounds 66.2 U.S. snow crab imports through November 2000, in millions of pounds 96.7 U.S....

Alabama seafood purveyors feel effects of negative press: Mobile C of C crafting rebuttal to local paper's series on mercury. (Environment).(Mobile Chamber of Commerce)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2002... Seafood purveyors in Mobile, Ala., are trying to figure out how to respond to a series of news articles in the Mobile Register reporting Gulf of Mexico seafood and fish-eaters have methylmercury levels exceeding federal limits. The paper...

In my retail case.(Rachel Coughlin)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2002... Rachel Coughlin Seafood Manager Lamb's Thriftways Portland, Ore. Retail concept: Independent, upscale market founded in 1938. One of five Lamb's in Portland, Ore. Seafood sales: 52,000 pounds annually Finfish in the case:...

OSU wins grant for value-adding: seafood lab targets oysters and albacore tuna. (R&D).(Oregon State University)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2002... The Oregon State University Seafood Research Laboratory plans to use a new $532,000 federal grant to develop value-added oyster and albacore tuna products. The U.S. Department of Agriculture awarded the money in December to help coastal...

Pier Fish Co.(Brief Article)
February 1, 2002... Pier Fish Co. opened a 25,000-square-foot processing facility in New Bedford, Mass., that has cold storage capacity of 2.5 million pounds and features blast and plate freezing technologies. The plant, which employs 50, uses Baader flatfish and...

Oceana Restaurant.(tenth anniversary)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2002... New York City's Oceana Restaurant celebrates its 10th anniversary this month. The restaurant is featuring classic recipes throughout February, including seafood gumbo and osso buco of monkfish roasted on the bone...

BelOcean North America.(Seacom Marketing contract)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2002... BelOcean North America, with offices in Boynton Beach, Fla., appointed Stephen Aghjayan and Seacom Marketing of La Conner, Wash., its national sales agent. BelOcean is a primary processor and importer of Chilean IQF calamari steaks and strips...

ContactDirect.com and the National Fisheries Institute formed a partnership.(Brief Article)
February 1, 2002... ContactDirect.com and the National Fisheries Institute formed a partnership that gives NFI members a discount on ContactDirect's Internet-based contact management and database services...

Upstream.(best new restaurant)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2002... Upstream restaurant in Charlotte, N.C., is included in "The best new restaurants of 2001," a survey published in the December issue of Esquire magazine. The restaurants recognized in the survey were chosen for their combination of atmosphere,...

FPI hammers out plan to restructure groundfish plants: union representatives, provincial government reject first proposal. (Processing).(Fishery Products International)(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
February 1, 2002... Fishery Products International was moving ahead last month with plans to restructure and modernize its three groundfish processing plants in the rural Newfoundland communities of Fortune, Harbour Breton and Marystown. In mid-January,...

Land trust saves Bluffton Oyster: one of last S.C. shuckers can keep selling May River oysters. (Processing).(Brief Article)
February 1, 2002... The Bluffton Oyster Co., one of South Carolina's last two oyster-shucking houses, has a new lease on life, thanks to a county land trust that wants to preserve it and the four acres of surrounding waterfront property. The Bluffton Oyster...

Mar shellfish license gets suspended: R.I. company says mislabeling was accident. (Supply).(Brief Article)
February 1, 2002... The shellfish license of Mar Seafood in Warwick, R.I., was suspended for two weeks in January after health inspectors determined about 54,000 of the company's clams were labeled as Rhode Island clams but had been harvested in Florida. The clams...

How efficient is your seafood operation? (Off The Shelf).(Brief Article)
February 1, 2002... A free report analyzing the energy efficiency and productivity of 10 seafood plants in the Pacific Northwest is likely to spark money-saving ideas for seafood processors wondering if their plants are tuned for optimum efficiency. ...

Fear of overstocking steadies demand, prices: Asian tigers, Latin American whites should remain attractive buys this month. (Shrimp).(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
February 1, 2002... Buyers should expect shrimp prices to stabilize this month. Prices were already beginning to level off in mid-January as demand cooled. The holidays helped bring a much-needed boost to a dismal shrimp market. No one is expected to stock up...

Groundfish market strangely quiet: weak economy is mainly responsible for lagging sales. (Groundfish).(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
February 1, 2002... With Lent only a month away, the market for frozen groundfish was abnormally calm in mid-January. Lent, which begins early this year, usually ignites demand at least four weeks in advance. But a sluggish economy has caused buyers to back off....

Dungeness fishery stronger this season: prices of American lobster and scallops gradually climbing. (Shellfish).(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
February 1, 2002... Oregon's 2001-02 Dungeness crab fishery, which kicked off Dec. 10, was shaping up to top last season's sub-par catch by the end of January. Through Jan. 9, the state's landings totaled 6.5 million pounds, only 900,000 pounds shy of the 2000-01...

Red snapper hits market: fishery was anything but normal last year. (Focus).(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
February 1, 2002... This year's domestic Gulf of Mexico fishery for American red snapper kicked off Feb. 1 for 10 days. Beginning Feb. 1, fishermen can target red snapper only the first 10 days of each month, until two-thirds of the 4.65-million-pound annual quota...

Has farmed salmon hit bottom at last? Producers hope Lenten and Valentine's Day sales will lift demand. (Salmon).(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
February 1, 2002... Can prices of farmed Atlantic salmon creep any lower? Possibly, but don't bet on it. Buyers should expect to see demand surge during Lent and Valentine's Day, which should at least keep price from falling further. Typically, farmed salmon...

Come on a national seafood tour. (Editor's Note).(Editorial)
February 1, 2002... Travelers with adventuresome palates have a bounty of options available to them if they like seafood. Whether you're on the road for business or pleasure, you'll find on most menus regional specialty seafood dishes that tempt the taste buds and...

Off the mark on catfish. (Letters).
February 1, 2002... After reading your Editor's Note (January SFB., page 18) on the catfish "ban," I wonder just whose views you were representing. There are a number of points that I must take issue with. As I understand it, the fish that comes out of Vietnam...

Correction.(Brief Article)
February 1, 2002... Jack Kilgore's title was misidentified in the January Top Story, "Weathering the storm". Kilgore is executive vice president of Rich-SeaPak and chairman of the National Fisheries Institute.

Tracking product is a concept worth exploring. (Issues & Answers).(Column)
February 1, 2002... Where, exactly, does your fish come from? Regulators and retailers are asking this question more frequently. The seafood supply chain appears to be in the initial stages of a transformation from a system in which harvests are frequently...

Eco-labels need industry backing to succeed. (Marketing Forum).(Brief Article)
February 1, 2002... "All natural," "organic," "farm fresh" -- the food industry has a lot of slogans and buzz words to assure consumers that its food products are wholesome. Of course, it's up to the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Food and Drug...

West coast: catch limits push Bay Area groundfish supplies down, prices up. (On The Road).(Statistical Data Included)
February 1, 2002... Editor's note: Modern distribution systems make it possible for U.S. seafood buyers to procure fish from all parts of the country. But in addition to offerings from far-flung ports, each area boasts its own regional specialties. Some of the...

Lab director bring industry, academia together: David Green's networking, teamwork skills keep marine-science center going strong. (Seafood Star).(Brief Article)
February 1, 2002... For Dr. David Green, the cutting edge in seafood research begins at the water's edge. Green, an associate professor in North Carolina State University's Food Sciences Department, an extension specialist with the N.C. Cooperative Extension...

Heads up. (Trend Watch).(frozen foods, seafood consumption and work hours)(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
February 1, 2002... Fresh from the freezer American cooks are making mealtime easier by spending less time assembling the main dish, reports The NPD Group in its 16th annual "Report on Eating Patterns in America." Suppers served with a frozen main course...

Out with the fussy, in with familiar fare: five food trends for 2002 and tips on how to capitalize on them. (Trend Watch).(Brief Article)
February 1, 2002... Comfort, family, home and simplicity will define the key food trends in 2002, following the terrorist attacks, war and recession that marked the latter part of 2001, say trend forecasters. "On Sept. 11, the world changed, and along with it,...

Side dish. (On The Menu).(fish and seafood in American restaurants)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2002... Ground Round goes fishy Once known for burgers, Ground Round has added a trio of new seafood dishes as a continuing part of a menu-diversification move that began in the mid-1990s. New dishes for the chain are Triple Shrimp Platter,...

Seafood classics are back by popular demand: fish dishes are among the comfort fare diners crave in stressful times. (On The Menu).(Brief Article)
February 1, 2002... Classics were making a comeback even before Sept. 11, but now, while the whole world seeks a retreat into comfort foods, they've become the stuff of craving. From fried catfish to poached salmon, traditional seafood preparations have never...

Retail Q&A. (The Grocery Store).(fish storage)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2002... Q: My lobsters have been dying, and I noticed that the water level in the tank is low. Can I fill the system with fresh water and then add salt? A: No. When the water level is low, add a mixture of salt and water to the tank. Never pour...

Minimize your risk by tracking margin: build a margin-mix spreadsheet to help ensure your department's profitability. (The Grocery Store).(Brief Article)
February 1, 2002... When one item in your product mix goes on sale, it has a direct impact on the gross profit margin of the entire department. That's known as a margin mix. A margin mix spreadsheet can help you maintain profitability by planning weekly specials...

Tilapia: is it just a matter of time before St. Peter's fish butts heads with the almighty pollock? (Species Focus).(Statistical Data Included)
February 1, 2002... Virtually unknown to American consumers just a few years ago, tilapia jumped into the mainstream in November 2000 when Red Lobster added the species to its menu nationwide. It's been a huge hit. Last year, Red Lobster increased the volume...

Jonah, rock crab: two crabs that were once discarded have become culinary darlings of four-star chefs from coast to coast. (Product Spotlight).
February 1, 2002... Dungeness crab may be sweeter and king crab more impressive, but it's unlikely that any crabs are more profitable than Jonah and rock (a.k.a. "peekytoe") crab, two low-priced species that are increasingly showing up on some very high-priced...

Show preview: use this exhibitor guide to maximize your time at the 20th annual International Boston Seafood Show. (IBSS Visitor's Guide).
February 1, 2002... Seafood buyers won't want to miss the 20th International Boston Seafood Show, held at the Hynes Convention Center March 12 to 14. The event is sponsored by SeaFood Business magazine and the National Fisheries Institute. Attending IBSS,...

Ocean carriers: shipping lines are changing their frozen-only policy and developing ways to carry fresh and live seafood. (Equipment).(Brief Article)
February 1, 2002... In the past, if you called up a shipping company and said you wanted to send a couple of containers of flesh or live seafood by water -- instead of by air -- you would have been told that the shipper handled only frozen product. Maintaining...

Cajun catfish patties. (Value-added).(from Aqua Group Inc.)(Brief Article)(Product Announcement)
February 1, 2002... Ms. Mattie's catfish patties and strips are now available from Aqua Foods and Pride of the South Catfish. The patties are made with fresh minced farm-raised catfish meat, breaded lightly with a blend of Cajun spices and seasonings, then fully...

Dressed-up shrimp. (Value-added).(from Phillips)(Brief Article)(Product Announcement)
February 1, 2002... Phillips' crab-stuffed shrimp is being offered for retail sale. Two medium shrimp are butterflied, placed together and topped with a crab imperial stuffing made from the company's original Phillips Seafood Restaurants' recipes. Available in...

Foolproof salmon. (Value-added).(from Morey's Seafood International)(Brief Article)(Product Announcement)
February 1, 2002... Morey's Seafood International introduces marinated, boneless Atlantic salmon with a pop-up timer packaged in a dual-oven tray. The timer pops out of the fish when the salmon is ready, whether it is broiled, baked, sauteed, grilled or...

Award-winning dips. (Value-added).(from King and Prince Seafood Corp.)(Brief Article)(Product Announcement)
February 1, 2002... King & Prince Seafood Corp. introduces seafood dips made with shrimp and crab, fresh artichokes and Parmesan cheese in a cream-cheese base and seasoned with spices. The dips are available in two varieties -- Shrimp & Crab Parmesan and Shrimp &...

C&W. (People).(C&W Industrial Fabrication and Marine Equipment Ltd. appointment)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2002... C&W Industrial Fabrication and Marine Equipment Ltd., a Canadian manufacturer of seafood processing equipment, appointed Dennis Frappier marketing representative for the northeastern United States. Frappier was formerly general manager of the...

Preferred Freezer Services. (People).(Daniel DiDonato)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2002... Daniel DiDonato has been promoted from sales manager to vice president of sales for Preferred Freezer Services of Jersey City, N.J.

Newport International. (People).(Troy Turkin)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2002... Troy Turkin was named vice president of sales for Newport International, a Florida importer of Jack's Catch branded products.

Sysco. (People).(SYSCO Food Services Los Angeles Inc.appoints Daniel S. Haag)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2002... Daniel S. Haag was named president and COO at Sysco subsidiary Sysco Food Services of Los Angeles. Currently president and CEO of Sysco Food Services of San Franscicso, Haag will assume the new position on Sept. 1. Bruce Schwartz, current...

Empire Seafood. (People).(Luis Parga)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2002... New COO of Performance Food Group's Empire Seafood Co. subsidiary in Miami is Luis Parga, previously the company's corporate controller.

Farm Fresh Catfish. (People).(David Roy)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2002... Joining the Farm Fresh Catfish Co. sales team as regional sales manager for the West and Southwest sales territories is David Roy. His area includes Texas, the largest consumer market for catfish products.

Northwest Fisheries Assn. (People).(Jay Bornstein person of the year)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2002... Jay Bornstein, owner of Bornstein Seafoods in Bellingham Wash, was presented the NWFA "Person of the Year" award in December. Bornstein has been involved in the seafood business his whole life, starting as a commercial fisherman. He helped...

Maine Lobstermen's Assn. (People).(Patrice Farrey)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2002... New executive director of the Maine Lobstermen's Association is Patrice Farrey, replacing Patten White, director for the past 12 years. For the previous two years, Farrey was associate director of the MLA.

Calendar.
February 1, 2002... FEBRUARY FEB. 20-22 IFT International Food Safety and Quality Conference and Expo Atlanta Marriott Marquis Contact Institute of Food Technologists (312) 782-8424; fax (312) 416-7933 www.iftfoodsafety.org FEB. 23-27...

Bill Gerencer fish buyer, M.F. Foley Co. (Talking To).(Interview)
February 1, 2002... Immediately after graduating from college with a degree in biochemistry, Bill Gerencer went lobstering for a summer. He's been in the fish business ever since. After six years working aboard draggers and 15 years buying fish for one of New...