For generations we have been told that eating fish is good for us. But does the average person really know why this is, and is he or she adapting his or her diet accordingly. Concentrating on the health benefits will pay dividends in increased seafood sales, but is anyone getting the health message across to consumers?
In years past whitefish was fed to invalids because it is easy to digest. Cod liver oil was fed to children in the 1940s and they probably hated, but it did them good. No one promote seafood back then.
However, just over 20 years ago, medical experts at a conference in Seattle presented the results of professional trials showing that the omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids found in fish and shellfish can help prevent and cure a whole host of serious illnesses, particularly coronary heart disease.
Here, at last, was a really positive message for consumers that could be used to promote seafood consumption. What happened next, however, is unfortunately typical of the seafood industry. Whereas any other sector of the food industry would be shouting from the rooftops that eating its product could help prevent or cure one of the biggest killers in the Western world, the reaction of the seafood trade was muted at best.
OK, the omega-3 labels now appear on many retail seafood packs. But there is nothing to tell supermarket shoppers why these products are good for them.
In January, there was another landmark conference on seafood and health, this time in London. And this time we heard that seafood is rich in many other nutrients that benefit our health.
The trace elements iodine and selenium and vitamin D in seafood are essential for good health. In fact, after omega-3 fatty acids, we were told that vitamin D should be recognized as the next big aid in disease prevention.
This time the question was posed: "Whose job is it to get the message out to the consumer?" Is it up to government, public authorities, national seafood and fisheries organisations or the seafood industry itself? There was no clear answer.
So has nothing changed? Here is the next chapter in the amazing story that eating seafood will help prevent or cure a whole host of crippling and killer diseases, from strokes and heart attacks to brain disorders and cancers to obesity and depression.
What other sector of the food industry would be so reticent about extolling the health benefits of the products in which it deals?
If no one else is going to do it, then it must be up to the seafood trade to get the message across. People are becoming more health conscious, so what an obvious way to increase sales and improve profits. It won't be easy, but then nothing worthwhile usually is.
July 30, 2009
Pushing the health message
