Seafood Business articles from November 2006

Seafood Business archives from November 2006

Buyer's guide 2007.(Buyers guide)
November 1, 2006... To be a good seafood buyer, you have to have good information. And as margins keep shrinking, cutting-edge information is all the more important. That's what our annual Buyer's Guide is all about. SeaFood Business editors and writers have...

Studies tout health benefits of seafood and downplay risks.(HEALTH)
November 1, 2006... The health benefits of eating a variety of seafood twice a week outweigh the risks of exposure to methylmercury, PCBs and other contaminants, according to two major studies released by the Institute of Medicine and Harvard School of Public...

Hillman accused of hiring illegal aliens.(PROCESSING)
November 1, 2006... Hours before its Sept. 30 expiration date, Congress extended the federal H2B non-skilled seasonal worker visa program for another year, much to the relief of seafood processors across the country. Less than two weeks later, the owner of...

NFI adopts economic integrity program.(Late NEWS)(National Fisheries Institute)(Brief article)
November 1, 2006... When National Fisheries Institute members pay their annual dues in January, they will also be required to comply with a new economic integrity program. At NFI's 61st annual meeting in Coronado, Calif., in mid-October, its Board of Directors...

Poseidon strikes deal with two private investors.(Late NEWS)
November 1, 2006... Hunt Private Equity Group of Dallas and Fenwick Capitol of Birmingham, Ala., acquired partial ownership of Poseidon Enterprises of Charlotte, N.C., on Oct. 23. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. Founded by the LaVecchia family in 1986,...

Bon Appetit to plug NGO's online 'mercury calculator'.(Late NEWS)
November 1, 2006... On Nov. 15, Bon Appetit Management Co. of Palo Alto, Calif., will begin posting signs in its 400 cards directing customers to www.gotmercury.org, a Web site that measures mercury intake via seafood consumption. The Web site, created by the...

New seafood-recommendation list targets kids.(Late NEWS)
November 1, 2006... SeaWeb launched an initiative called KidSafe Seafood on Oct. 23 to help parents choose seafood relatively low in contaminants such as methylmercury and PCBs (polychlorinated biphenyls) to feed their children. The initiative features a Web site,...

Study says sea lice from farms kill wild salmon; Canadian aquaculture proponents fault research methodology.(SUPPLY)
November 1, 2006... Canadian scientists have linked the deaths of juvenile wild salmon to parasitic sealice infections contracted when the wild fish swam past salmon farms. Research findings published in the Oct. 3 issue of Proceedings of the National Academy...

Icelandic[R] USA.(Biz BRIEFS)
November 1, 2006... Icelandic[R] USA increased the frozen-storage capacity at its new distribution center in Newport News, Va., by 70 percent in October. The expansion, the second this year, brings the warehouse to 56,000 square feet.

United States Cold Storage.(Biz BRIEFS)
November 1, 2006... United States Cold Storage is expanding the refrigerated storage space at its Bethlehem, Pa., distribution center facility by 4 million cubic feet. The project, bringing the center's total space to 9 million cubic feet, should be completed by...

Fishery Products International.(Biz BRIEFS)
November 1, 2006... Fishery Products International's U.S. production facility in Danvers, Mass., has met the Marine Stewardship Council's requirements to produce sustainable value-added seafood with the firm's eco-label.

Master-Bilt.(Biz BRIEFS)
November 1, 2006... Master-Bilt, a New Albany, Miss., manufacturer of commercial refrigeration systems, received patent approval for its reverse-cycle technology, a process that automatically reverses the direction of refrigerant flow during defrost.

Ecolab of St. Paul, Minn., acquired DuChem Industries.(Biz BRIEFS)
November 1, 2006... Ecolab of St. Paul, Minn., acquired DuChem Industries, a Newman, Ga., company that makes cleaning and sanitizing products for protein processors.

ASMI's first TV commercial in 20 years airs on the Food Network; in the humorous spots, actor Ben Stein touts Alaska seafood.(MARKETING)
November 1, 2006... Ben Stein, best known as the boring economics teacher in the 1986 film "Ferris Bueller's Day Off," is now starring in TV commercials promoting Alaska seafood. The lawyer/economist/actor lends his deadpan, monotone delivery to a $2.3...

Landry's lets go of Joe's; Houston company focuses on higher-end assets.(FOODSERVICE)(Landry's Restaurant, Joe's Crab Shack)(J.H. Whitney Capital Partners L.L.C. acquisition)(Brief article)
November 1, 2006... Landry's Restaurants sold 120 Joe's Crab Shack restaurants to J.H. Whitney Capital Partners LLC, a New Canaan, Conn., private-equity firm, for $192 million on Oct. 10. The deal should close by year's end. The remaining 23 Joe's units will...

Group claims IFQs harm Alaska's fisheries; food & water watch: rationalization hurts fishermen, resource.(SUPPLY)
November 1, 2006... Rationalizing Alaska's crab fisheries has harmed the ecosystem and resulted in hundreds of lost jobs, says Washington, D.C., NGO Food & Water Watch. Millions of crabs are unnecessarily discarded and 1,150 fishermen are without jobs while...

Toxin levels in mollusks keep falling; bans and severe restrictions on harmful substances are responsible.(FOOD SAFETY)(Brief article)
November 1, 2006... Mussels and oysters are becoming safer to eat, according to a report in the October issue of the journal Marine Environmental Research. After examining mollusk tissue and sediment from 246 coastal sites around the country, researchers at...

Facts & figures.(turkey and seafood consumption statistics)(Statistical table)(Brief article)
November 1, 2006... 7.3 U.S. turkey production (live weight) in 2004, in billions of pounds 9.6 U.S. seafood catch (live weight) in 2004, in billions of pounds 0 Number of countries that produce...

Raw, shucked lobster a hit: high-pressure processing takes meat from shell.(PROCESSING)
November 1, 2006... A Richmond, Maine, company is marketing a first-of-a-kind product--fresh, raw, hand-shucked lobster meat. Shucks Maine Lobster, which opened in April, uses a 16-foot-tall, 80,000-pound high-pressure-processing machine to shuck the meat. ...

New survey reveals most Americans eat seafood; but fewer than half eat the protein regularly.(MARKETING)
November 1, 2006... A consumer survey released early last month found that 85 percent of Americans eat seafood, but only 45 percent eat seafood at least once a week and 20 percent consume it at least twice a week. The survey, "Consumer Attitudes on Seafood...

Oyster competitions a draw for seafood aficionados; briny bivalves all the rage with shuckers, slurpers.(MARKETING)
November 1, 2006... Oyster shuckers and slurpers from across the country vied for bragging rights and cash prizes at several competitions held over the past few months. Three shuckers from Jax Fish House in Boulder, Colo., swept the oyster-shucking contest at...

NESPA makes fish family-friendly.(Line ITEMS)
November 1, 2006... To promote the health benefits of seafood to busy households, the New England Seafood Producers Association expanded its Web site, www.eatseafood.org, with "Family Servings." The new section provides nutritional information on seafood along...

Ice for Louisiana fishermen.(Line ITEMS)
November 1, 2006... The hurricane-battered seafood industry in southwest Louisiana's Cameron Parish got a much-needed boost with the Sept. 23 dedication of an industrial icehouse. Shell Oil Co., the Louisiana Seafood Promotion and Marketing Board, the Louisiana...

Maine senator takes langostinos to task: prawn is not a lobster, says lobster council.(MARKETING)
November 1, 2006... Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-Maine) urged the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to disallow use of the market name "langostino lobster," because the species, she says, is "not lobster, nor should it be marketed as such." In a Sept. 25 letter to...

Something fishy.(News LINE)
November 1, 2006... I THINK IT MIGHT BE HELPFUL IF WE REFRAINED FROM PHRASES LIKE 'SHRIMP' AND 'CRAB'." [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

William Marshall.(Obituary)
November 1, 2006... Chairman of Rainforest Aquaculture dies Seafood industry veteran William E Marshall died of a heart attack on Sept. 29 at 54. Marshall, who started a salmon hatchery and grow-out operation in Maine in the 1980s, spent the past 15 years as CEO...

No better time to champion the health benefits of seafood.(Editor's NOTE)
November 1, 2006... I was relieved to see the government finally put some muscle behind its advice that Americans should eat seafood at least twice a week. Environmentalists have claimed for years that methylmercury exposure from seafood consumption puts consumers...

Halibut: prices have hit new highs, but cost hasn't yet put a major dent in demand.(Finfish FOCUS)
November 1, 2006... In early September at Tom Douglas' Dahlia Lounge in Seattle, the halibut entree was served in a bamboo steamer over bok choy, sprinkled with grated fresh ginger and thinly sliced scallions and finished with a toasted-garlic oil. It was a...

Wild salmon: as Alaska moves toward higher-value products, the West Coast braces for another lost season.
November 1, 2006... Not so long ago, Alaska's salmon industry was in the dumps. Fishermen were struggling to make ends meet, and processors were folding their operations or being gobbled up by their competitors. But over the past three years, the industry has...

Atlantic salmon: with farmed salmon in demand, buyers look to Canada.(Finfish UPDATE)
November 1, 2006... As farmed salmon prices reached record highs in 2006, U.S. buyers relied more on whole fish from Canada, where a newly consolidated pool of suppliers produced large volumes with limited processing capabilities. Whole salmon imports from Canada...

Swordfish: demand for swordfish plateaus, while landings and imports decline.(Finfish FOCUS)
November 1, 2006... Fall is prime time in the Northeast for fresh swordfish--big ones with peak fat content after a summer of gorging on smaller fish on the Grand Banks. This is when buyers look to Boston and pay top dollar for the swordfish fleet's harvest. ...

Tilapia: popular farmed whitefish a serious contender on the U.S. top-10 seafood list.(Finfish FOCUS)
November 1, 2006... Tilapia first appeared on the list of America's most popular seafood species in 2001, when it ranked 10th. Now, after vaulting from ninth to sixth place two years ago, the widely cultivated fish is poised to take over the No. 5 spot from...

Yellowfin tuna: demand remains strong, but the uncertainty of Mother Nature and increased fuel costs make pricing unpredictable.(Finfish FOCUS)
November 1, 2006... Despite continued weather disruptions and increased fuel prices worldwide, the yellowfin tuna market remained relatively steady throughout 2006. Next year may be harder to predict, however. U.S. yellowfin imports for the first six months of...

Catfish: Domestic production falls, as imports continue to rise.(Finfish UPDATE)
November 1, 2006... Domestic catfish production in 2006 is expected to fall short of the 600-million-pound mark for the first time in five years, while imports of farmed channel catfish and basa from Asia continue to rise. A Sept. 21 report by the U.S....

American lobster: value-added products represent opportunity to expand market.(Shellfish FOCUS)
November 1, 2006... Maine lobster is steeped in a tradition of wooden boats, bright-colored buoys and shore dinners every Fourth of July. In the marketplace, the prevailing tradition has been the stability that comes with steady supplies and fairly predictable...

King crab: this high-end crustacean's popularity is soaring, but there may be trouble on the horizon.(shellfish FOCUS)
November 1, 2006... King crab is more accessible and affordable than ever, which is good news for cost-conscious buyers who can now offer this elite seafood to customers at amazingly low prices--like under $6 a pound, wholesale. Why? Because record amounts of...

Crabs: no relief in sight for snow crab until Alaska's Bering Sea fishery picks up.(shellfish UPDATE)
November 1, 2006... The market for snow crab (Chionoecetes opilio) is in a holding pattern. Demand and prices are high and should remain so through early 2007. "Availability is extremely tight," says Chris Limberg, national sales manager for Harbor Seafood in...

Mussels: both blue and greenshell markets are poised for growth.(shellfish FOCUS)
November 1, 2006... Mussel marketers these days are looking to shrimp for inspiration. Value-added mussel products, such as recipe-ready, frozen meats, are the key to unlocking the full potential of the U.S. mussel market, some say, just as peeling, deveining and...

Pacific white shrimp: Vannamei is plentiful, thanks to Asia's production spike and Ecuador's recovery from white-spot.(shellfish FOCUS)
November 1, 2006... Elgin Hanes, VP of purchasing for Joey's Only Seafood Restaurants, was ahead of the curve five years ago when he switched the shrimp on the casual-seafood chain's menu from black tigers (Penaeus monodon) to Pacific whites (P. vannamei). ...

Shrimp: whether you're buying black tigers or Gulf browns, there's plenty of shrimp to go around.(shellfish UPDATE)
November 1, 2006... In the mid-1990s, black tigers accounted for the lion's share of the world's farmed-shrimp harvest of less than 1 million metric tons. Today, Penaeus monodon is no longer king of the jungle, even in its native Asia. In Asia, which...

Sea scallops: larger meats bolstered the market, but a new area opening may net bigger landings in all sizes for 2007.(shellfish FOCUS)
November 1, 2006... The buzzword for this year's sea-scallop supply seems to be "big," but it's the size--not the quantity--of the scallops that's got buyers and sellers rethinking supply. Some industry observers attribute the abundance of large scallops to...

Bay scallops: Chinese imports keep bay scallop market steady.(shellfish UPDATE)
November 1, 2006... At a time of overall market fluctuations, bay scallops (Argopecten irradians) have for the last two years remained stable in supply, demand and pricing, and no significant changes are expected for 2007. Though bay scallops are sourced...

Clams: catcher-processors anticipate a possible shift in traditional surf clam grounds.(Shellfish UPDATE)
November 1, 2006... Name a clam and there is a market for it. Surf or sea clams go into the processing sector for chowder or clam strips. Softshells go to New England restaurants and markets for the much sought-after summertime "steamers." Most hardshells find...

Surimi seafood: producers focus on quality and consumer education to expand the analog market.(Shellfish UPDATE)
November 1, 2006... Surimi seafood, another name for imitation crab, lobster or other types of shellfish, can be a tasty addition to everything from salads and sandwiches to dips, soups and casseroles. The trouble is, most Americans don't buy surimi...

Calendar 2006-07.(Calendar)
November 1, 2006... NOVEMBER Nov. 14-15 * Kosherfest Jacob K. Javits Convention Center New York Contact Diversified Business Communications (207) 842-5504 fax (207) 842-5505 kosherfest@divcom.com www.kosherfest.com ...