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.
Author Archive
The U.S. Department of Agriculture is asking U.S. shrimp suppliers to submit bids on 388,500 cases of shrimp by 29 January.
The winning suppliers will be required to deliver the frozen peeled and deveined shrimp between 16 March and 30 June.
U.S. Representative Garret Graves (R-Louisiana) announced the purchase in December, noting the federal government would purchase around USD 36 million (EUR 33 million) of wild shrimp from the U.S. Gulf
… Read More
Thanks to a collaboration with nonprofit Seafood Nutrition Partnership (SNP) that resulted in the launch of an effective marketing campaign, U.S. grocery retailer H-E-B expects heightened sales and increased awareness of its fresh, frozen, and shelf-stable seafood at the start of the new year.
The partnership is part of SNP’s ongoing “Fall in Love with Seafood” campaign, which launched last October, and San Antonio, Texas,
… Read More
Elizabeth, New Jersey, U.S.A.-based grocery store company Atalanta Corporation – the largest privately held food importer in North America – is buying J.A. Kirsch, a U.S. food importer specializing in canned seafood.
Terms of the transaction were not disclosed, but Brown, Gibbons, Lang & Company’s (BGL) Food and Beverage investment banking team served as the exclusive financial advisor to J.A. Kirsch in the transaction,
… Read More
Brooklyn, New York, U.S.A.-based smoked salmon supplier Acme Smoked Fish is opening a facility in the U.S. state of Florida, which it originally bought in 2022, to effectively address increased demand across the Southeast U.S. – and is also unveiling new products, packaging, and an innovative climate initiative to start out 2024.
The 43,000-square-foot manufacturing facility in Pompano Beach, Florida, will significantly enhance the
… Read More
A U.S. Costco store is allegedly displaying crab in the same way some retailers display high-end jewelry.
At a Costco store in King of Prussia, Pennsylvania, U.S.A., crabmeat is being stored behind a locked glass partition. Customers must first check out with a laminated paper containing a barcode and a photo of the crabmeat before they’re given access to the seafood, according to Reddit user pretty_with_no_r who posted a photo of the
… Read More
U.K. supermarkets recently experienced their highest level of December transactions since 2019, according to marketing data and analytics firm Kantar, as consumers spent a record GBP 13.7 billion (USD 17 billion, EUR 16 billion) at grocery tills during the last month of 2023, up 7 percent year over year.
The average U.K. household spent an all-time high of GBP 477 (USD 603, EUR 553) on groceries in December, Kantar said in a press release.
… Read More
Two lawsuits arguing ALDI’s misleadingly labeled some of its seafood products as sustainable have been dismissed.
Essen, Germany-based ALDI operates more than 2,000 U.S. grocery stores in 36 states. Toxin Free USA, represented by Richman Law and Policy, filed one of the complaints against ALDI in 2021. The nonprofit, which advocates against the use of GMOs, synthetic pesticides, and toxins in food products, alleged ALDI sourced salmon
… Read More
Red Lobster has added a limited-time flavor to its Ultimate Endless Shrimp menu.
The 700-restaurant-strong Red Lobster chain has added a tangy crispy salt and vinegar shrimp flavor to its Ultimate Endless Shrimp deal options, it said in a press release.
Red Lobster has also begun offering a black tiger shrimp cocktail that includes jumbo shrimp served with both cocktail sauce and a spicy Thai chili-lime cilantro sauce.
With Ultimate Endless
… Read More
After a lucrative holiday season to end 2023 for U.S. retailers, some analysts are forecasting a tougher year ahead for the industry, with seafood sales likely to suffer from decreased demand due to higher prices and increased costs throughout the supply chain.
U.S. retail sales excluding automotive products rose 3.1 percent from 1 November through 24 December, according to preliminary data from Mastercard SpendingPulse. Notably, restaurant
… Read More
Conagra Brands, which sports frozen seafood brands Van de Kamp’s and Mrs. Paul’s along with major brands Healthy Choice and Bird’s Eye, lowered its outlook for 2024 after disappointing sales and earnings in its most recent fiscal quarter.
The Chicago, Illinois, U.S.A.-based supplier reported that its gross profit plunged 8.2 percent to USD 847 million (EUR 774 million) in fiscal Q2 2024, while organic net sales dropped 3.4
… Read MoreRecent Articles
