Christine Blank

The horsemeat scandal in Europe is speeding up the European Union’s work on new food labeling regulations. As a result, seafood labels will be subject to stricter rules, including country-of-origin labeling.

While the new EU rules do not take effect until December 2014, the “industry is supposed to be getting its house in order and coming into compliance,” Paul Williams, chief executive of U.K. seafood association Seafish, told

In the wake of a new Oceana study that found 33 percent of U.S. seafood samples were mislabeled, retailers and suppliers are taking a proactive approach to handling mislabeling problems.

To get the word out to consumers that mislabeling is not likely, Wegmans took to its company website to speak up about how effective its sourcing practices are. As a result, some retailers and seafood suppliers are speaking up about how effective their sourcing

Retailers and foodservice operators say that more consumers are buying sustainable seafood than was conveyed in the recent Truven Health Analytics-NPR survey.

In the survey of approximately 3,000 Americans, 32 percent said that it is important to them that the seafood they purchase is sustainably caught, and 21 percent said it is “very important” that their seafood is sustainable. In addition, 22 percent of Americans said they would be

Some European retailers have responded positively to a letter asking them to support Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) certification of the Alaska salmon fishery.

However, the Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute (ASMI) refuted the letter, saying it contains “numerous unsubstantiated statements and misrepresentations” about Responsible Fisheries Management (RFM) certification.

In the letter, the Pacific Salmon Foundation, SkeenaWild Conservation

Restaurants and retailers across the U.S. are taking advantage of Valentine’s Day and the coming weekend to boost sales of lobster and other seafood.

Restaurants, especially, have gotten on board with special seafood menus for Valentine’s Day. For example, at Santa Monica Seafood’s Costa Mesa café, a Maine lobster over linguine dinner is USD 30 (EUR 22.48), while its Santa Monica store is featuring seared Ahi tuna with lobster tail for USD

While many U.S. casual seafood restaurant chains are performing well, their sales growth is falling below other segments, according to new data from foodservice consulting firm Technomic. While the restaurant industry as a whole grew an estimated 4 to 4.5 percent in 2012, casual seafood restaurant sales are not growing as quickly, based on quarterly same-store sales figures from large public chains through the third quarter of 2012.

“Seafood

After finding migrant worker issues in Thai canned tuna factories, the Business Social Compliance Initiative (BSCI) is holding workshops in the country this year.

The Brussels-based BSCI (www.bsci-intl.org), which provides audits and training for its global supply chain customers, is stepping up its training in the country after the NGO Finnwatch Association found numerous unfair labor practices at Thai Union Manufacturing, the parent company of

Major global canned tuna players Unicord and Thai Union Manufacturing (TUM) last week disputed the recent allegations of child labor and other labor violations at their Thai canned tuna factories.

“Our code of conduct explicitly prohibits the employment of individuals under legal working age, and we refuse allegations to the contrary,” according to a statement from TUM, the parent company of Chicken of the Sea, John West, Petit Navire, and

Seafood exports from Myanmar are set to grow significantly this year, as European Union trade restrictions begin to lift, according to a new economic analysis.

“The EU expects this year to implement a plan to import all cultured (farmed) product from Myanmar,” said Willem van der Pijl, business developer and consultant for The Netherlands-based socio-economic research firm LEI Wageningen UR, which produced the report.

Buyers from the EU, the

Protein dishes — including seafood — were more popular in U.S. restaurants in 2012 than in 2011, according to new research.

After analyzing more than 250 million checks from restaurants and bars, foodservice research firm GuestMetrics found that protein dishes grew in sales by 2.1 percent in 2012, compared to non-protein dishes, which grew at a rate of 0.3 percent. Protein dishes accounted for 49 percent of restaurants’ food sales,