Christine Blank

Contributing Editor

Christine Blank, a veteran freelance writer and editor, covers all aspects of the seafood industry, from fishing to processing to selling and serving the final product. When she is not writing for SeafoodSource, Christine gets to taste scrumptious seafood dishes at U.S. restaurants for her food and travel blog, Flavorful Excursions (www.flavorfulexcursions.net). Christine loves to eat seafood of any kind, but lobster, crab and crawfish are among her favorites. In addition to SeafoodSource.com and SeaFood Business, Christine’s articles have been published in hundreds of leading magazines and newspapers, such as The New York Times, USA Today and Associated Press.

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Author Archive

Published on
July 2, 2025

Orlando, Florida, U.S.A.-based restaurant chain Red Lobster, which operates more than 500 locations around the globe, is continuing to implement turnaround efforts to grow its revenue post-bankruptcy.

As the summer rolls along, its newest efforts include promoting its seasonal Crabfest deal and launching a new catering service.

For the first time ever, the chain’s summer Crabfest deal is featuring a seafood boil. The Mariner’s Boil

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Published on
July 1, 2025
Sustainable sushi ingredients supplier Culimer USA is rebranding as Oddisea SuperFrozen. The Ridgefield, New Jersey, U.S.A.-based company said the change was made in response to growing U.S. consumer concerns about “the management of our oceans, the origins of our seafood, and the purity of… Read More
Published on
June 30, 2025

Portland, Maine, U.S.A.-based Cousins Maine Lobster continues to expand across the U.S., hoping to reach 100 locations nationwide by the end of 2025.

The operator of both brick-and-mortar restaurants and food trucks recently opened a unit in Grand Rapids, Michigan, U.S.A., marking its 85th unit, the company said. The Grand Rapids opening further extends its reach in the state of Michigan westward from Detroit.

Farther south, Cousins relaunched

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Published on
June 25, 2025

Minneapolis, Minnesota, U.S.A.-headquartered retail chain Target is hosting its first ever Wellness Innovation Summit, in which it aims to find new and trending wellness food, beverage, and nutrition products – including seafood items – to place on the shelves of its nearly 2,000 locations across the country.

Target is open to seafood vendors as long as they meet the standards of its Target Forward Seafood Sustainability commitment,

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Published on
June 25, 2025

U.K. grocery chain Morrisons has committed to phasing out the sourcing of shrimp slaughtered through eyestalk ablation.

Following negotiations with the International Council for Animal Welfare (ICAW), Bradford, U.K.-based Morrisons will phase out such methods as eyestalk ablation and suffocation in ice slurry for 100 percent of its prawn sales by 2027.

Similarly, U.K. supermarket chain Co-op committed to phase out the practices in March after

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Published on
June 24, 2025

The sales of Orlando, Florida, U.S.A.-based restaurant operating firm Darden Restaurants soared in its fourth fiscal quarter of 2025, but its Fine Dining segment, which includes such chains as The Capital Grille and Eddie V’s Prime Seafood, took a hit in the period.

The company’s total sales in the quarter surged 10.6 percent year over year to USD 3.3 billion (EUR 2.9 billion), driven largely by a blended same-restaurant sales

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Published on
June 20, 2025

After being sold in early June to a U.S. investment firm, Willenhall, U.K.-headquartered grocery chain Poundland has announced that it plans to close up to 150 stores and two distribution centers.

Poundland, the operator of around 850 stores in the U.K and Ireland prior to the anticipated closures, was sold for the “nominal” sum of GBP 1.00 (USD 1.35, EUR 1.17) to Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.A.-based Gordon Brothers and revealed soon

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Published on
June 17, 2025
A U.S. federal jury has convicted Antonietta Nguyen, the former chief financial officer and minority shareholder of San Francisco, California, U.S.A.-based ABS Seafood, of embezzling more than USD 9 million (EUR 7.8 million) from the seafood wholesale firm. Originally indicted in 2023, Nguyen was… Read More
Published on
June 16, 2025

Inflation on the prices of many seafood products at U.S. retail stores rose in May, but frozen and ambient seafood still experienced sales gains in the period.

After months of deflation, fresh seafood prices spiked 2.2 percent in May compared to the same month a year prior, led by an increase of 6.7 percent in fresh shellfish prices, according to new Circana data analyzed by Lakeland, Florida, U.S.A.-based 210 Analytics, which also found that

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Published on
June 16, 2025
Maspeth, New York, U.S.A.-based Asian food importer Starway International Group is recalling approximately 9,513 pounds of frozen catfish fish ball products from Vietnam. The catfish balls were produced by an establishment in Vietnam that is not eligible to export catfish to the U.S., according to… Read More