Seafood Business articles from February 2004

Seafood Business archives from February 2004

Feds get tough on crooks.
February 1, 2004... If you think the feds aren't serious about preventing illegally harvested seafood from reaching the marketplace, think again. In response to heightened security awareness after 9/11, federal authorities are working harder to bust dealers...

FDA contends PCB study findings mislead consumers.(Food Safety)(Food and Drug Administration)(contaminants found in farmed salmon)
February 1, 2004... In mid-January, seafood industry leaders sought to minimize the damage to farmed-salmon's tarnished image while anti-farmed-salmon activists capitalized on the shock value of a study showing that PCB (polychlorinated biphenyl) levels in farmed...

Antidumping cases cloud shrimp market.(Trade)(Southern Shrimp Alliance petitions government to set anti-dumping duties)
February 1, 2004... Uncertainly and confusion filled the shrimp market after the Southern Shrimp Alliance, an eight-state group of shrimp fishermen and processors from North Carolina to Texas, filed antidumping petitions against six of the world's largest...

PCBs in salmon spurs Prop 65 case in California.(Late News)(environmental groups sue salmon farmers under Safe Drinking Water and Toxic Enforcement Act)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2004... Anti-farmed-salmon activists in California have put 40 farmed salmon companies, seafood distributors and grocery chains on notice that they intend to sue to force consumer labeling of PCB levels in farmed salmon. Excluded from the notice was...

Food trade groups to create COOL alternative.(Late News)(country-of-origin labeling program)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2004... The National Fisheries Institute and five other food trade groups pledged in mid-January to create a voluntary, cost-effective country-of-origin labeling program in lieu of the federally mandated program, which is expected to cost $3.9 billion...

LJS ties shrimp promotion to Mars exploration.(Late News)(Long John Silver's Restaurants)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2004... Long John Silver's will give its customers free Giant Shrimp, its latest menu item, if the National Aeronautic and Space Administration finds conclusive evidence by Feb. 29 that a body of water once existed on Mars. NASA sent two rovers to the...

Sealord seeks U.S. approval to market organic mussels.(Late News)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2004... Sealord, New Zealand's largest mussel producer, is seeking the U.S. Department of Agriculture's permission to market its green mussels as organic in the Untied States. Currently, seafood cannot be marketed as organic because the USDA's National...

New owner plans spring reopening for Striped Bass: Philadelphia's landmark seafood restaurant back in business.(Foodservice)(Stephen Starr)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2004... Philadelphia restaurateur Stephen Starr, the new owner of Striped Bass, plans to reopen the nationally ac claimed seafood restaurant this spring with a new menu and new chef. The restaurant's future was uncertain after owner Neil Stein...

Lafjord sues Marine Harvest over Costco private label contract: suit alleges short weights were part of plan to oust Lafjord.(Retail)
February 1, 2004... Lafjord USA of Mill Creek, Wash., is suing Marine Harvest over a smoked-salmon contract with Costco Wholesale. Lafjord accuses Marine Harvest of intentionally sabotaging its contract with Costco so that the salmon supplier could sell smoked...

International Pacific Processing.(Biz Briefs)(opens new plant)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2004... International Pacific Processing opened a 10,O00-square-foot processing plant in Fullerton, Calif. The company processes portion-cut halibut, salmon, swordfish, mahimahi, tuna and other seafood under the Pacifica brand. The plant has...

FishJobs.(Biz Briefs)(partners with Paramount Group)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2004... FishJobs, a seafood-industry employment Web site run by H.M. Johnson & Associates of Jacksonville, Ore., has partnered with the Paramount Group, an executive search firm specializing in seafood, meat and poultry plant placements. The Paramount...

OOCL.(Biz Briefs)(Orient Overseas Container Line Ltd., Samsung Heavy Industries)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2004... OOCL signed an agreement with Samsung Heavy Industries for two additional SX Class vessels for delivery in 2007, bringing the total number of SX Class vessels ordered with Samsung to 12. OOCL Shenzhen and OOCL Long Beach were delivered earlier...

Fishery Products International.(first promotion)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2004... Fishery Products International launched its first operator promotion of the year on Jan. 2. Titled "SOAR (select operator activity awards), the four-month program awards foodservice operators points for case purchases of value-added FPI...

Louisiana plugs U.S. seafood: seafood pavilion will debut at La. Restaurant Expo.(Marketing)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2004... Restaurant buyers who attend the Louisiana Restaurant Expo in New Orleans on July 31 to Aug. 2 will be able to visit the Gulf Coast Seafood Pavilion, which has been added to the show for domestic seafood vendors. "We felt there was a need...

Dick Rivera resigns as president of Red Lobster: the chain's same-restaurant sales fell 12 to 13 percent in December.(Foodservice)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2004... Red Lobster President Dick Rivera stepped down early last month to explore entrepreneurial opportunities in the restaurant industry. He also resigned as president and COO of Darden Restaurants, parent of the 680-unit seafood chain. Rivera,...

New Mass. auction starts in March: online bidding on pelagics open to buyers and vendors worldwide.(Supply)(Seafood Auction Co., New Bedford, Massachusetts)
February 1, 2004... Seafood buyers will be able to buy swordfish, tuna and other pelagic species online or in person at The Seafood Auction Co., a new seafood display auction in New Bedford, Mass., that will launch on March 22. The auction will lease 25,000...

Facts & figures.(statistics about dining out, candy consumption, seafood consumption, flower sales)(Brief Article)(Illustration)
February 1, 2004... 32 Percentage of Americans who dine out on Valentine's Day 2 Number of dining-out occasions (birthdays, Mother's Day) more popular than Valentine's Day 22.2 U.S. per-capita candy ...

Mercury advisory challenged: new advisory reconciles FDA and EPA views.(Food Safety)(Environmental Working Group criticizes food safety standards of Food and Drug Administration, Environmental Protection Agency)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2004... The Environmental Working Group in late December took legal action to block a new draft advisory on methylmercury that the Food and Drug Administration and Environmental Protection Agency plan to issue jointly by March. The draft advisory...

Landry's continued growth fuels 2003 revenues topping $1 billion: seafood acquisitions pay off for Houston restaurateur.(Foodservice)(Landry's Seafood Restaurants Inc.)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2004... In 2003, Landry's Restaurants rang up revenues of $1.1 billion, topping the $1 billion mark for the first time, the company announced in January. Landry's also expects to report 3 percent same-store sales increases when it formally releases its...

100 salmon products carry eco-label.(Line Items)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2004... The Marine Stewardship Council announces that more than 100 Alaska salmon products now carry the MSC eco-label. The international, non-profit MSC awards its eco-label to fisheries meeting a strict environmental standard. The Alaska salmon...

Whopper goes low-carb.(Burger King Corp. new products)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2004... Burger King Corp. introduced shrimp salads to its menu to attract consumers on low-carbohydrate diets. A bunless Whopper hamburger and chicken and steak salads were also unveiled. Burger King's new Web site, www.haveityourway.com, shows carb,...

Cooking school schedule released.(Line Items)(Seafood School at the Duncan Law Seafood Consumer Center)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2004... The Seafood School at the Duncan Law Seafood Consumer Center in Astoria, Ore., has released its 2004 cocking class schedule. The list includes classes on Spanish dishes, appetizers, homemade ravioli, sushi rolls, Portuguese dishes and summer...

30,006 reasons why you can be sure farmed salmon is the right thing to eat.(Advertisement)
February 1, 2004... Here are 30,000 of them: 0.001% (one one-thousandth of a percent)/ The possible increased risk of cancer vs. 30.0%/ The proven reduction in coronary heart disease Here are six more: * The recently released Hites et al....

Farmed redfish gains a following among New York area restaurateurs: emerging Texas redfish industry has pockets of distribution.(Aquaculture)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2004... Redfish may be making a comeback as a farm-raised species. Redfish Farms, a New York distributor that started marketing redfish to the city's white-tablecloth chefs less than a year ago, has had to expand operations to meet growing demand. ...

Holidays boost demand, but trade cases muddle market: China shipped a record 25.2 million pounds of shrimp to the U.S. market in November.(Shrimp)
February 1, 2004... The upcoming holidays and the threat of tariffs strengthened the shrimp market early last month. But buyers had difficulty telling if one factor was more influential than the other. The Chinese New Year on Jan. 22 boosted demand, which...

Lackluster demand drives down prices: Northeast farmers battle snowstorms, sub-zero temperatures.(Salmon)
February 1, 2004... Two December nor'easters and sub-zero temperatures in early January slowed production of farmed Atlantic salmon in Maine, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia. But by mid-January the weather had improved, and farmers were able to access their...

Fresh groundfish supplies ample so far: look for discounts on frozen halibut late this month.(Finfish)
February 1, 2004... Massachusetts fishermen started off 2004 on the right foot. In the first two weeks of January, they harvested 300,000 pounds of cod, 300,000 of yellowtail flounder and 200,000 of haddock, up 33 percent, 33 percent and 50 percent, respectively,...

Lent's here, but grouper's not: month-long ban limits supplies.(Preview)
February 1, 2004... A month-long ban on grouper fishing in domestic Gulf of Mexico waters will tighten supplies beginning in mid-February. The closure, which starts Feb. 15, was enacted in 2001 to protect grouper during spawning season. However, it falls in...

Bering Sea opilio fishery lasts nine days: after a productive fall, nasty winter weather limits New England lobster landings.(Shellfish)
February 1, 2004... It took Alaska fishermen just nine days to round up 19.3 million pounds of Bering Sea snow crab. The open-access fishery kicked off without a hitch Jan. 15 and closed Jan. 23, leaving 1.5 million pounds for the community-development fishery....

Justice runs amok.(Editor's Note)
February 1, 2004... Importers who are dealing with expensive species such as Chilean sea bass or spiny lobster should make law journals and a copy of the Lacey Act a part of their education. Sifting through the legalese of the legislation is no fun, but it could...

Shrimp-dumping suit propelled by politics.(One Man's Opinion)
February 1, 2004... It's been a long time coming, but beleaguered Southern shrimp fishermen finally filed their antidumping suit--just before the stroke of New Year's (see Newsline, page 1). The basic premise of the shrimpers' lament is not in dispute. Fueled by a...

Fish farming is choice of true environmentalists.(Aquaculture Forum)
February 1, 2004... In an ideal future food world, everything will be in environmental balance--ocean fish stocks restored to full strength, sustainable aquaculture production at high levels and intensive farming of land animals reduced. Nutrition experts...

Sell consumers on the health benefits of seafood: when it comes to nutrition, seafood has a great story to tell.(Seafood FAQs)
February 1, 2004... By now, we all know that fish is good for us. Despite all the media hype about methylmercury and PCBs, the bottom line remains the same: The health benefits of eating seafood far outweigh any risks for most people. With Americans becoming...

Seafood buyers hold down costs with program purchasing: third-party and auction buying are increasingly popular ways to procure seafood.(Trend Watch)
February 1, 2004... It's no secret that when it comes to buying food at the wholesale level, the bigger the purchase, the more power the purchaser wields. For many years, the unpredictable, variable supply of wild fish made seafood somewhat immune to such...

David Murphy makes waves with new menu in Chicago: Chicago restaurant's new chef makes successful shift from Mediterranean fare to seafood.(On the Menu)
February 1, 2004... Bringing in a new chef creates its own set of challenges for a restaurant, especially when that restaurant is already successful, and the newcomer is changing the menu concept. David Murphy, the new executive chef" at Chicago's Wave...

Do self-serve right, and seafood can sell itself: self-service cases are a good option when staff and space are limited.(SeaFood University)
February 1, 2004... In an ideal retailing world, a seafood department would feature unlimited space and assortment and a staff large enough to assist every customer, no matter how busy things got. Unfortunately, most seafood departments are limited in both...

Catfish: tightening supplies of this Southern-bred favorite are expected to drive up prices.(Species Focus)
February 1, 2004... The domestic catfish industry is finally beginning to turn the corner. After sliding to under 65 cents a pound in August 2001, the average price paid to catfish farmers is inching closer to the breakeven point. "We've been on a downturn...

Abalone: the farmed mollusk is a unique product for those willing to pay for it.(Product Spotlight)
February 1, 2004... Unless you live on the West Coast or are a fan of sushi and sashimi, chances are you've never eaten abalone. Furthermore, you probably haven't even been in a store or restaurant that offers it. The supply of wild abalone in North America is...

Biggest U.S. seafood event a bonanza for buyers and suppliers: in its 22nd year, IBSS still packs the Hynes with three floors of exciting exhibits.(IBSS Preview)
February 1, 2004... The International Boston Seafood Show, sponsored by SeaFood Business and the National fisheries Institute, marks its last year at the Hynes Covention Center with new days and hours. Instead of its customary Tuesday-through-Thursday schedule,...

2004 Conference Program lineup: retailer, restaurateur or distributor, you'll find something here to help your business.(IBSS Preview)(Calendar)
February 1, 2004... SUNDAY, MAR. 14 Ethnic merchandising and marketing seafood 9-10:30 am Retailers can increase sales to U.S. ethnic markets by better understanding these groups' product and service preferences. An overview of ethnic markets,...

Financial and insurance services: seafood companies seek to maximize growth while minimizing risk.(Equipment Focus)
February 1, 2004... A lot can happen to a seafood shipment from the time it is loaded overseas and delivered to the customer here in the United States. Some importers turn to insurance companies to limit the risks associated with transportation and warehousing as...

Captain D's.(Colt Hothorn hired, Keith Jones and Gary Brown recognized)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2004... Restaurant industry veteran Colt Hothorn joined Captain D's management team as senior vice president and chief development officer. He oversees the seafood chain's growth plans for the company and franchises. Hothorn was most recently president...

National Fisheries Institute.(new board of Wally Pereyra, David Weber, Rick Martin, Eric Bloom and Larry Cope)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2004... NFI's restructured executive committee, comprising the board of director's four officers and immediate past chairman, took effect oil Jan. 1. The 2004 officers are Wally Pereyra, chairman of Arctic Storm Management Group, chairman; David Weber,...

Hansen Technologies.(Milton Pritts appointed)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2004... Hansen Technologies Corp. appointed Milton Pritts vice president of global sales and marketing. He oversees the company's domestic and international sales, marketing and product support functions. Hansen is a provider of industrial...

Florida Restaurant Association.(Shannon McAleavey appointed)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2004... The Florida Restaurant Association named Shannon McAleavey of Red Lobster, operated by Darden Restaurants, to chair the statewide trade association. McAleavey is responsible for issue management at the federal, state and local levels and...

Gainco.(R. Scott Seabrook and Andrew Cremens appointed)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2004... Gainco, manufacturer of automated sorting, weighing and other yield-enhancement systems for the food-processing industry, recently appointed R. Scott Seabrook Southeastern regional sales representative, responsible for managing customer...

Bettcher Industries.(Tim Lindquist appointed)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2004... Tim Lindquist was appointed West Coast regional sales manager for Bettcher Industries, responsible for sales and service of the Whizard[R] Trimmer and Airshirz[R] line.

In memoriam.(Nicholas Vitalich Sr. and Bernard Oxenberg pass away)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2004... Nicholas Vitalich Sr. died Dec. 26, 2003, at 89. A champion of the seafood industry from the 1920s until retiring as president of Chesapeake Fish Co. in 1980, he promoted development of the U.S. seafood business throughout his career. ...

Minis from Maryland.(Value-Added)
February 1, 2004... Icelandic USA now offers its Maryland-style crabcakes in 0.65- and 0.75-ounce mini sizes. The minis blend blue-swimming-crab meat with select ingredients for the taste of authentic Maryland-style crabcakes at an affordable price. The cakes...

A new wrinkle on flavor.(Value-Added)
February 1, 2004... Gorton of Gloucester's Popcorn Fish made with flaky, white Alaska pollock tossed in a batter seasoned with a blend of nine herbs and spices. A special process flips and dips each bite-sized piece of fish in the coating, creating distinctive...

Smokehouse quartet.(Value-Added)
February 1, 2004... Clear Springs Kitchens offers Maplewood Smoked Idaho rainbow trout in four varieties. Cracked Black Pepper; Cracked Pepper, Lemon and Roasted Garlic; and Maplewood Smoked come in vacpacks containing two 3-ounce, skinon fillets. Maplewood Smoked...

Where Buffalo roam.(Value-Added)
February 1, 2004... For Dipt'n Dusted Buffalo shrimp, Tampa Maid dips premium shrimp in Buffalo-seasoned batter, then dusts them with its own Buffalo-style flour. This quick-to-prepare shrimp item can be offered as an appetizer, an entree salad topping, a Po' Boy...

Calendar 2004.(video games industry conferences)(Calendar)
February 1, 2004... FEBRUARY Feb. 26-28 Asian Fisheries, Aquaculture and Seafood Queen Sirikit National Convention Center Bangkok, Thailand Contact Baird Publications +61 39645 0411; fax +61 3 9645 0475 marinfo@baird.com.au ...

Kevin Coupe: founder, Morningnewsbeat.com.(One On One)(Interview)
February 1, 2004... The first thing thousands of supemarket retailers and food manufacturers do when they get to work each morning is check out the daily news and information on www.morningnewsbeat.com. The Web site is run by founder and "content guy" Kevin Coupe,...