Seafood Business articles from November 2003

Seafood Business archives from November 2003

A key to smarter buying.(Buyer's Guide 2004)
November 1, 2003... Despite all the advances in technology over the past 10 years, seafood buyers still place a lot of emphasis on one-on-one relationships with their suppliers. But with margins as tight as they are these days, it behooves every seafood buyer...

Importers scramble to adhere to rules of bioterrorism law.(Food Safety)
November 1, 2003... Seafood importers have until Dec. 12 to comply with federal regulations designed to prevent terrorists from tainting the nation's food supply. On Oct. 9, the Food and Drug Administration published the interim final rules for the...

Eco-labeled pollock closer to reality.(Environment)
November 1, 2003... Alaska pollock, the world's largest food fishery, is one step closer to receiving a "green" stamp of approval, a move sure to spark opposition from the environmental community. Scientific Certification Systems, the independent, third-party...

Judge throws out farmed-salmon-coloring case.(Late News)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2003... A King County, Wash., Superior Court judge on Oct. 20 dismissed a class-action lawsuit filed in April against three of the nation's largest supermarket chains for failing to properly label farmed salmon as containing synthetic pigments, which...

California grocery strike helps independents.(Late News)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2003... A grocery workers' strike in. Southern California that at press time had entered its third week shifted some seafood sales away from about 850 Kroger, Safeway and Albertsons stores to independent retailers. In mid-October, members of the United...

Red Lobster pushes pasta in new promotion.(Late News)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2003... Red Lobster debuted two new dishes in late October to launch a "Seafood Pasta Celebration" promotion at its 670 restaurants nationwide. South Beach Seafood Paella is a combination of shrimp, bay scallops, mussels, roasted vegetables and fresh...

PCC Natural Markets investigates eco-mislabeling.(Late News)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2003... PCC Natural Markets, a seven-store natural foods co-op in Seattle, and EcoFish, its exclusive distributor of sustainable seafood, are investigating wrongdoing that led to conventional product being sold as eco-friendly. In early 2002, the...

Hawaii International settles with Phillips over tasteless-smoke tuna: cases also pending with Jana Brands and Seven Seas Products.(Litigation)
November 1, 2003... Phillips Foods of Baltimore in September agreed to pay an undisclosed amount in claims and royalties to license Hawaii International Seafood's patented tasteless-smoke process and end nine months of litigation. Phillips uses the...

Red Lobster research corroborates rise in U.S. seafood consumption: survey finds consumers eat seafood both for a welcome change and for health.(Foodservice)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2003... Nearly half of Americans are consuming more seafood than they did five years ago, finds a Red lobster survey. The 676-unit chain, operated by Darden Restaurants, released the survey results on Sept. 17, seven days after the National Marine...

Costco unhappy with vendor: cites weight deviations in Marine Harvest salmon.(Retail)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2003... Costco Wholesale in mid-October threatened to stop buying Marine Harvest smoked salmon sold under the retailer's Kirkland Signature private label after discovering inaccurate package weights. Several lots of packages labeled as 1.5 pounds...

Good Harbor Fillet.(Biz Briefs)(new processing plant)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2003... Good Harbor Filet recently began production in a new 55,000-square-foot processing plant in Gloucester, Mass., that houses corporate offices along with raw-product receiving, processing, freezing, storage and docks.

Icelandic USA.(Biz Briefs)(new web site)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2003... Icelandic USA launched a Web site (www.icelandic.com) that provides a database of more than 200 recipes, product and promotion updates and essential seafood information for foodservice operators as well as distributors and their sales reps.

Robert Wholey & Co.(Biz Briefs)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2003... Robert Wholey & Co., a seafood processor and wholesale distributor with a 7.3 percent sales increase in the past two years, was named 98th in the Pittsburgh 100, an annual ranking of the areas fastest-growing privately held companies by the...

Weigh Systems Service.(Briz Briefs)(head office move)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2003... Weigh Systems Service, a Gainco subsidiary, in September moved its operations from Waldron, Ark., to 10818 Old Highway 71, Fort Smith, AR 72916; the phone number, (800) 467-2828, is the same.

Clear Springs Foods[R].(Briz Briefs)
November 1, 2003... Clear Springs Foods (R) offers "Create a Classic," a compilation of top recipes from its contest for chefs featuring Clear*Cuts rainbow trout fillets. To order the recipe card set, call (800) 635-8211.

Developing countries expected to play important role in global seafood business: report also says aquaculture expansion will help meet growing demand.(Supply)
November 1, 2003... In the next 20 years, developing countries will be responsible for 79 percent of the world's seafood production and 77 percent of global seafood consumption, says a report released last month by the International Food Policy Research Institute...

The New England Clam Shack Cookbook.(Off the Shelf)(Book Review)(Brief Review)
November 1, 2003... In "The New England Clam Shack Cookbook" Brooke Dojny takes you on an eating tour from Connecticut to Maine that's as satisfying as biting into a fried clam served no-frills and shoreside. This profile of mom-and-pop eateries is part culinary...

Facts & figures.(News Line)(seafood sales and consumption)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2003... 38.4 Amount U.S. consumers spent on seafood at foodservice in 2002, in billions of dollars 38.2 Amount U.S. consumers spent on seafood at foodservice in 2001, in billions of dollars 16.4 Amount U.S. consumers spent on seafood at retail...

Chefs promote eco-seafood: Seafood Choices/Chefs Collaborative sponsor event.(Foodservice)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2003... Chefs at 20 Los Angeles and Long Beach, Calif., restaurants served sustainable seafood specials from Oct. 10 to 16. The promotion, sponsored by the Seafood Choices Alliance and Chefs Collaborative, was timed to coincide with the International...

Water Grill's shucker proves he's the best in the West: WCSS first annual oyster-shucking contest draws nearly 30 contenders.(Contest)(Javier Morales wins at West Coast Seafood Show)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2003... Javier Morales of Water Grill in Los Angeles took first place in the first annual oystershucking competition at the International West Coast Seafood Show in Long Beach, Calif. The contest, held on Oct. 13, drew almost 30 novice and...

In my retail case.(News Line)(seafood delivery service)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2003... Keith Moses President Coast of Colorado Denver Retail concept: Seafood-home-delivery service. Moses and his crew of 16 salespeople drive refrigerated delivery trucks--retail seafood cases on wheels--to their customers' homes...

Opportunities for seafood.(The Big Picture)(Illustration)
November 1, 2003... [GRAPHIC OMITTED]

NFI board OKs bylaw changes.(Line Items)(National Fisheries Institute)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2003... The National Fisheries Institute's board of directors unanimously accepted sweeping changes to the group's bylaws at its Oct. 12 annual meeting in Long Beach, Calif. The changes, proposed by NFI President John Connelly, include strengthening...

Maine chefs pair pasta with lobster.(Line Items)(Winner of the 2003 Great Taste of Maine Lobster Governor's Tasting is chef William Clifford )(Brief Article)
November 1, 2003... Winner of the 2003 Great Taste of Maine Lobster Governor's Tasting last month was lobster tossed with orzo, herbs and chunky veggies, created by Chef William Clifford of The Daily Catch in West Boothbay Harbor, Maine. Chef John Arsenault of the...

Nobody ever said it was easy.(Editor's Note)(Editorial)
November 1, 2003... Welcome to my 21st and last Seafood Buyer's Guide. Nobody ever accused me of being a quick study, so after writing about how to buy seafood for the past 20 years, I figure it's high time I started selling it. A little over a year ago, I...

Alaska pollock: U.S. pollock producers find it's now a buyer's market, with or without an eco-label.(Finfish Focus)(Industry Overview)
November 1, 2003... Alaska pollock the fish may be gray, but Alaska pollock the fishery is green. Very green. Without a doubt, Alaska pollock is the most valuable and profitable fishery in the United States--if not in the world. Fishermen in Alaska will catch...

Coho salmon: this species may be the best choice to meet growing demand for wild salmon.(Finfish Focus)(Industry Overview)
November 1, 2003... With consumers suddenly clamoring for fresh wild salmon, many buyers who have relied solely on farmed fish are in a conundrum. But coho salmon may just be the answer to their problem. Offering quality, quantity and value, coho presents an...

Halibut: with fresh supplies available year-around, even prices for frozen halibut have soured.(Finfish Focus)(Industry Overview)
November 1, 2003... With fresh supplies available year-round, even prices for frozen halibut have soared As Congress once again debates the merits of individual quotas for fishermen, advocates of IQs will once again point to the Pacific halibut fishery as a...

Monkfish: with France and Korea vying for U.S. catches, monk now fetches a pretty penny.(Finfish Focus)(Industry Overview)
November 1, 2003... Pop quiz: What's the most valuable fish caught off the East Coast? No, it's not cod, haddock or yellowtail flounder. Would you believe monkfish? And it's not even a close contest. Monkfish landings are now worth an average of more than $50...

Rockfish: diminished stocks of this complex fish family will take a long time to rebuild.(Finfish Focus)(Industry Overview)
November 1, 2003... It's an all-too-familiar scenario: Federal-disaster-relief funds to help embattled fishing communities, vessel buyback programs, unprecedented grounds closures, trip limits, wasteful discards, lawsuits by environmental groups. But in this case,...

Tuna: Vietnam becomes chief U.S. supplier of top-quality, fresh yellowfin tuna, thanks to air freight.(Finfish Focus)(Industry Overview)
November 1, 2003... First it was shrimp, then catfish, and now its tuna. Once again, Vietnam is showing how quickly it can become an important supplier of high-quality seafood to the U.S. market. Since trade relations with Vietnam were normalized a few years...

Catfish: Tariff on Vietnamese basa failed to gain higher prices for U.S. producers.(Finfish Update)(Industry Overview)
November 1, 2003... Have U.S. catfish producers won the battle, but lost the war? That's the question the U.S. catfish industry asks itself these days. This summer, the U.S. International Trade Commission ruled in favor of U.S. catfish farmers, who had...

Cod: frozen fillets will be bargain-priced until Alaska processors start moving inventory.(Finfish Update)(Industry Overview)
November 1, 2003... After breaking the $3-a-pound barrier early this summer, the market for frozen cod fillets has "fallen out of bed," says one Alaska processor, who says he isn't finding any takers even at $2.75 a pound for big, IQF skinless, boneless fillets....

Flatfish: harvest and price projections for Alaska soles are the major bright spot for this category.(Finfish Update)(Industry Overview)
November 1, 2003... Catches of flounders and soles have been a mixed bag this year, with some species in good supply and others short--and getting shorter. On the East Coast, catches of summer flounder (blackback) were good again this year. The 2003 quota was...

Salmon: as Chilean salmon prices bounce back, processors have a hard time making a profit on wild salmon.(Finfish Update)(Industry Overview)
November 1, 2003... For some people in the salmon industry--Chilean salmon farmers, for example--business is getting a lot better. After a brutal 2002, which saw the f.o.b.-Miami price of Chilean pinbone-out fillets fall below $2 a pound, a level that was well...

Tilapia: steady production and growing demand should keep prices in check.(Finish Update)(Industry Overview)
November 1, 2003... Americans really do prefer fish that is white, bland and boneless. How else can one explain the success of tilapia? This fish with the odd name is now showing up almost everywhere and is among the 10 most popular seafoods consumed in the United...

Dungeness crab: dungeness market reaping benefits from alaska's current snow crab slump.(Shellfish Focus)(Industry Overview)
November 1, 2003... After working tirelessly for almost 20 years to develop a significant market outside northern California and the Pacific Northwest, the producers of this big, sweetmeated crab are finally having considerable success. As far as Dungeness...

Oysters: advances in post-harvest treatments spur changes in industry's marketing approach.(Shellfish Focus)(Industry Overview)
November 1, 2003... Take a drive through the parishes and bayous of Louisiana south of New Orleans and you can still watch oystermen work the reefs the same way they have for more than a century and a half. They may have to do a little more work than their...

Freshwater shrimp: both producers and buyers look to prawns as a viable alternative to Pacific whites.(Shellfish Focus)(Industry Overview)
November 1, 2003... As the price and size of farmed Pacific white shrimp plummets to record lows, more producers are looking to the giant river prawn, Macrobrachium rosenbergii, as an attractive alternative. Most of the farmed shrimp now coming in from Latin...

Spiny lobster: buyers should see rock lobster prices edge back up next year, now that the SARS scare is over.(Shellfish Focus)(Industry Overview)
November 1, 2003... The lobster business had been very, very good to a select group of Aussie fishermen. Driven by demand from the booming Chinese market for live lobster, the annual ex-vessel value of Australia's most lucrative fishery has soared to more than...

Clams: East Cost softshells and quahogs are good deals, but West Coast Manilas are getting pricier.(Shellfish Update)(Industry Overview)
November 1, 2003... It was a buyer's market for hard clams from the East Coast for most of 2003. Much of that can be attributed to a summer that featured rain on 11 out of 12 weekends, putting a big crimp in demand from beach resorts. The rain was especially...

Crab: Bristol Bay red king crab and blue-swimming crab from China are bright spots in crab supply.(Shellfish Update)(Industry Overview)
November 1, 2003... Alaska crabbers got a welcome bit of news the first week in September when the Alaska Department of Fish & Game announced that this year's quota for Bristol Bay red king crab was bumped up a whopping 70 percent to 14.5 million pounds. That will...

Lobster: the landings boom appears to be over, which means higher prices are here to stay.(Shellfish Update)(Industry Overview)
November 1, 2003... Summer? What summer? That's what New Englanders were asking themselves after one of the coldest, grayest summers in recent memory. The clammy weather also sent a chill through the Maine lobster industry" which saw an end to the record...

Mussels: supplies may not keep pace with growing markets for the bivalve.(Shellfish Update)(Industry Overview)
November 1, 2003... The mussel is one species for which finding markets doesn't seem to be a problem. Blue, black or green, the demand for this bivalve just keeps growing. Restaurants like Le Central ("an affordable French restaurant") have made a magnet out of...

Shrimp: white shrimp are a great buy now, but that will change with Gulf shrimpers' antidumping suits.(Shellfish Update)(Industry Overview)
November 1, 2003... In some respects, the shrimp business has never been better. For the second year in a row, shrimp was the most popular seafood eaten in the United States. U.S. per-capital shrimp consumption hit a record 3.7 pounds in 2002, up 10 percent...

Surimi seafood: look for good buys and stepped-up marketing next year.(Shellfish Update)(Industry Overview)
November 1, 2003... From year to year, the price of surimi the popular fish paste that can make people think they're eating pricey shellfish like crab instead of cheap fish--can vary quite a bit. The price of surimi made from Alaska pollock, for example, can swing...

Germ zapper.(Tools of the trade)(C&S Equipment Co. UVC tumbling machines)(Brief Article)(Product/Service Evaluation)
November 1, 2003... UVC tumbling machines from C&S Equipment Co. use ultra-violet C-band light, proven effective as a germicide, to decontaminate food surfaces during processing. The machines incorporate either a rotating drum or screw conveyor that gently lifts...

Good vibrations.(Tools of the trade)(Meyer Machine Vibra-Flex II conveyors)(Brief Article)(Product/Service Evaluation)
November 1, 2003... Cost-efficient Vibra-Flex II conveyors from Meyer Machine feature a unique frame design that delivers consistent vibration to the conveyor pan through springs, eliminating the need for heavy structural support. Reduced structural requirements...

Single-step screening.(Tools of the trade)(LYCO Manufacturing )(Brief Article)(Product/Service Evaluation)
November 1, 2003... The patented, double-drum screen from LYCO Manufacturing cuts waste generation for seafood processors. The screening technology employs rotary action to separate waste solids from liquids in one step. Effluent enters the inner drum, which...

Collapsible crates.(Tools of the trade)(IPL Products )(Brief Article)(Product/Service Evaluation)
November 1, 2003... IPL Products announces its full line of SmartCrate(TM) collapsible, plastic containers. The hand-held SmartCrates are also returnable and ideal for moving perishables to market as well as making plant-to-plant transfers of product. These crates...

Monitor from afar.(Tools of the trade)(Dickson's MP200 Remote Multipoint Network Monitor)(Brief Article)(Product/Service Evaluation)
November 1, 2003... With Dickson's MP200 Remote Multipoint Network Monitor, you can inexpensively monitor multiple instruments simultaneously from one PC. The MP200 uses modem connections to allow viewing and downloading of information from any Dickson data logger...

A whiz at slicing.(Tools of the trade)(Whizard Series II trimmers)(Brief Article)(Product/Service Evaluation)
November 1, 2003... The new 1900 family of Whizard(R) Series II trimmers is now available from Bettcher Industries. When slicing salmon or performing other thin-slicing operations, this new generation of modular trimmers produces longer, wider slices for more...

Precision packing.(Tools of the trade)(Brief Article)(Product/Service Evaluation)
November 1, 2003... Gainco's new model GS-3100 weigh/bagging systems are suited to the full range of seafood applications, from fillets to nuggets and shellfish. The systems can accommodate each user's specific wicketed bag requirements. A quick-change wicket...

Tag team.(Tools of the trade)(Brief Article)(Product/Service Evaluation)
November 1, 2003... New from Telatemp Corp. are WarnMark Time-Temp Tags that monitor the temperature of refrigerated products during shipping and storage. The response temperatures and run-out times (the length of time the product has been exposed to a certain...

The truth about smokehouses.(Equipment Focus)(Brief Article)(Product/Service Evaluation)
November 1, 2003... The truth is that most smokehouse manufacturers want you to buy what they have, not what you need. What they have are ovens designed mainly for the meat industry where most products are hung vertically for processing. Enviro-Pak--from the...

Aw, shucks!(Equipment Focus)(Intromark's Ott Oyster Opener)(Brief Article)(Product/Service Evaluation)
November 1, 2003... Opening oysters or other shellfish is easier and safer with Intromark's Ott Oyster Opener(TM), a stainless steel, one-piece design measuring 3.87 by 1.25 by 0.042 inches. The opener's beveled, hand-ground tip makes the tool safe to use, and the...

The silent treatment.(Equipment Focus)(Brief Article)(Product/Service Evaluation)
November 1, 2003... Span Tech introduces the HO-Series horizontal offset conveyor to its WhisperTrax(tm) modular flexible-conveyor line. The conveyor features compound curves that turn in opposite directions where the entrance and exit sections are parallel....