New Zealand launched a new promotional seafood campaign at the 2013 New Zealand Seafood Industry Conference on 1 October in Aukland.
The Healthy Fish campaign is designed to help consumers make informed decisions when shopping for seafood and demonstrate New Zealand seafood’s environmental benefits.
“Our research has shown consistently that the general public like eating fish but many of them lack confidence in selecting, preparing and cooking it,” Seafood New Zealand told SeafoodSource.
Healthy Fish will be promoted through a QR code on recipe cards, as well as in an update of the familiar New Zealand fish posters.
“You can use [the QR code] with your phone to get online information…Choose the right species, for whatever dish you might have in mind. It will tell you what time of the year it’s the best buy, as well as other information about the species,” said Tim Pankhurst, Seafood New Zealand CEO.
The campaign is starting with education on 20 species: arrow squid, tarakihi, snapper, red gurnard, trevally, kahawai, flounder, red cod, orange roughy, blue warehou, hoki, King salmon, Greenshell mussels, scallops, Bluff (dredge) oysters, clams, ling, Pacific oysters, rock lobster and paua (abalone).
Healthy Fish also highlights the environmentally benign effect of the country’s seafood.
“If people choose their food purchase on the basis of environmental impact, we want to reassure them that seafood is their first option,” Pankhurst said.
New Zealand Minister for Primary Industries Nathan Guy was quick to load his cell phone with the Healthy Fish QR code, calling it “a very snazzy app for telling what the seafood industry is really like and an example of it raising its profile in recent times.”
