Here’s a recap of this week’s can’t-miss SeafoodSource news stories and commentaries:
• SeafoodSource Contributing Editor Jason Holland kicked off the week with a commentary detailing the impact of the depreciating euro on European seafood exporters, who may see their increasingly affordable products find larger audiences outside the continent. “Certainly their products have the necessary quality and attributes to win over new consumers,” Holland writes in “Euro frailty.”
• Bottled seawater? Yes, it’s true. SeafoodSource Contributing Editor Nicki Holmyard talked to Andy Inglis, founder of Acquamara, who’s bottling seawater off northwestern Scotland. The “new” product hit store shelves in Scotland this week, and already local chefs, including Tom Kitchin and Roy Brett, can’t get enough of it. “Bottled seawater is set to become the latest must-have ingredient in trendy kitchens and restaurants across the United Kingdom,” Holmyard writes in “New use for a sustainable resource.”
• SeafoodSource’s coverage of the Gulf of Mexico oil disaster continued this week with a report from SeafoodSource Assistant Editor April Forristall on state officials’ efforts to reach out to mainstream media outlets to spread the word that Gulf seafood is available and safe to eat. However, that effort is being thwarted by “scaremongering opportunists” like Axe Nutrition founder Milton Carl, who’s capitalizing on the fear of oil-tainted seafood by scaring consumers into buying his book, “God’s Miracle Cure,” as I explain in my commentary “Beware of ‘scaremongering opportunists.’” And in her “Sustainable seafood in an unsustainable world” commentary, SeafoodSource Contributing Editor Lisa Duchene looked at the future of the Gulf ecosystem and the importance of looking beyond seafood to related sustainability issues.
• SeafoodSource Contributing Editor Lindsey Partos came through with two reports from the biannual Salon Saveurs fine food show in Paris over the weekend. She talked to Claudie Vardelle, co-owner of Philippe Gendreau, about his passion for sardines and his mission to elevate the species’ status among consumers. She also detailed the explosion of high-end, sustainable seafood products on display at the show, including “home-grown” caviar and innovative packaging for canned mussels.
• When it comes to sustainable seafood, Overwaitea is getting it right — half of the time, according to environmental activist organization Greenpeace. At 51 percent, Overwaitea received the only passing mark in the Greenpeace report “Taking Stock,” which graded Canada’s eight major retailers according to their sustainable seafood sourcing policies. Greenpeace failed the other seven retailers, including Loblaw (41 percent), Walmart (28 percent) and Sobeys (14 percent), despite their efforts in recent months to adopt sustainable seafood policies.
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