Expo blog: Day 1

Sunday 16 March

3:30 p.m. The winners of the Seafood Excellence Awards were announced.

King & Prince Seafood won the Best New Retail award for their Bacon Wrapped Stuffed Shrimp and High Liner Foods won the Best New Foodservice award for their Flame-Seared Guinness® Barbecue Glazed Atlantic Salmon.  

12 p.m. SeaFood Business Senior Editor James Wright stopped by the Canada pavilion and talked to Gail Shea, minister of Canada’s Department of Fisheries and Oceans, about two new free-trade agreements.

11:45 p.m. Attendees at the seafood consumption conference applauded Aileen Sauris, a nurse practitioner at Brigham and Women’s Hospital Cardiovascular Wellness Service in Boston when she stood up and passionately advocated for consumer education to increase seafood consumption.

“The American Heart Association has documented scientific evidence that seafood is the only protein that can reduce the risk of heart disease, and that message is not getting out there,” Sauris said.

Sauris is working with Seafood Nutrition Partnership (SNP) to create a program to increase consumer awareness about the health benefits of seafood. Be sure to check back here to learn more after she meets with SNP tomorrow morning at the expo.

11:30 a.m.: During the "How do we increase seafood consumption in the U.S." conference, Marie Zhang, chief food innovation officer at Long John Silver's, said the quick service restaurant's goal is to increase seafood consumption in the U.S., no matter where consumers eat it. "It's about a broader point of view," she said. "It's not about making more money but to overall improve American lifestyle."

Since Long John Silver's was sold two years ago, Zhang said the message to consumers has been about sustainability and health.

"We have three approaches to increase American seafood consumption: 1. Introduce  different cooking preparations, 2. Use seafood as a key ingredient in all platforms, sandwiches, salads and coups and 3. Increase variety," Zhang said.

11 a.m. Seafood consumption in the U.S. has declined for seven consecutive years and only one in five Americans eat seafood twice a week. How does the seafood industry correct that?

Education, education, education. If you’re in the seafood industry you know it’s key to getting consumers over their qualms about cooking and eating seafood. It was also one of two things all four panelists at the conference, “How can we increase seafood consumption in the U.S.?” all emphasized. The other? Variety.

10 a.m.: Santander Bank will host delegation from the embassies of Brazil, Peru, Ecuador, Chile, Mexico and Costa Rica, brining together representatives of more than 8- countries together with U.S. companies interested expanding their foreign trade in Latin America. Be sure to check back on this blog tomorrow for my interview with the bank's new senior VP and head of seafood industry banking.

9:30 a.m.:  As attendees were gathering in the lobby, I took a pre-opening stroll on the expo floor and spoke with Linda Rank, Marine Harvest director of marketing and new product development, about the salmon farming giant’s latest retail launch, Rebel Fish fresh salmon easy entrees.

“I am very, very, very optimistic,” Rank told SeafoodSource about the new line. “It’s been so well-received.”

Rank said she hopes the line will be available in stores in a couple of months. “We have a lot of meetings here in Boston. We’ve already had some preliminary talks with some retailers and this will be their first time trying it.”

Saturday 15 March:  Before the expo even opened, the news started trickling in. Seafood Nutrition Partnership announced the launch of the public phase of its fundraising campaign.

To date, the nonprofit has raised USD 6 million (EUR 4.3 million) during the quiet phase of the campaign, nearing the goal of USD 7.5 million (EUR 5.4 million) — half of what is ultimately needed to underwrite a three-year national public health campaign that would begin in 2015.