Curious what your fellow SeafoodSource readers are viewing? Here’s a rundown of the website’s five most-read stories and commentaries of October 2011:
5) In solemn economic times, price reigns supreme. That’s a given. But it certainly isn’t the only reason consumers are still buying seafood. Kristof Werbrouck, a marketing executive in Marine Harvest’s Belgium office, visited London to deliver the company’s latest retail trend analysis. SeafoodSource Contributing Editor Jason Holland gives his take on Werbrouck’s talk in his 17 October commentary “Launching with confidence.”
4) It’s been dragging on for more than three years. Now the newly established Office of Catfish Inspection Programs (OCIP) may not receive any federal funds, thanks to an amendment attached to an agriculture appropriations bill U.S. Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) on 18 October. The OCIP is the result of a provision included in the 2008 Farm Bill that would transfer regulation of domestic and imported catfish from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
3) The world’s largest casual-dining is looking upmarket for growth. Darden Restaurants, which owns Red Lobster, North America’s biggest casual seafood chain, on 12 October scooped up Eddie V’s Prime Seafood and Wildfish Seafood Grille for USD 59 million from a Houston-based restaurant company. The upscale seafood concepts will become part of Darden’s Specialty Restaurant Group, which comprises The Capital Grille, Bahama Breeze and Seasons 52.
2) SeaFood Business Associate Editor James Wright attended the seventh World Seafood Congress is in Washington, D.C., in the first week of October, and his report on the conference “Where are All the Fish Going to Come From?” drew a lot of interest. The panelists contended that to meet ever-increasing demand for seafood from an estimated 9 to 10 billion people by mid-century, the world must lean more on aquaculture — and not just any aquaculture, but offshore aquaculture.
1) This month’s most-read story and commentary came from SeafoodSource Contributing Editor Mike Urch. “China’s processing sector ripe for big change” took an in-depth look at how seafood processing equipment manufacturers such as Marel are now designing and installing complete processing lines rather than selling individual machines. “The days when workers would stand in rows, often with nothing more than a knife, a ruler and a set of old fashioned scales, are drawing to a close as they move on to better paid jobs and the machines move in to replace them,” wrote Urch.
