Product diversification takes another look at canned salmon

In the last decade, the growing variety of salmon products has taken pinks out of the can and into burgers, H&G fillets and other value-added products. However, the next innovation may again be cans, as Alaska processors consider moving from the traditional tall, 14.75-ounce vessels to something smaller and more accessible.

“To hit a certain price point there is a real need to reduce the normal size of canned salmon, much like tuna, cereal, ice cream — it’s a pretty common thing happening in the retail food world right now,” said Tyson Fick, communications director for the Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute (ASMI) in Juneau, Alaska.

To make this happen, the state legislature is currently reauthorizing HB 204, The Salmon & Herring Product Development Tax Credit. The previous version of the bill, which has been around for 10 years, gave tax credits to processors that invested in creating new product forms, helping to drive diversification of pinks: In 2003, 72 percent of Alaska’s pink salmon was canned. The canned share of Alaska pink salmon dropped to 49 percent in 2012.

Now that the bill is up for renewal, the legislature is working on updates that would allow the credit to be used for new types of canned product, which were previously excluded. The funds have to be used to create something new, said Fick, and not for simply replacing old equipment.

Click here to read the full story that ran in the April issue of SeaFood Business >

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