If U.K. citizens were to buy more domestically produced seafood, it could help the nation better meet dietary recommendations and climate goals, according to a new study conducted by the Rowett Institute at the University of Aberdeen in Scotland.
The research – funded through Scotland’s Rural and Environment Science and Analytical Services Division (RESAS) – mapped U.K. seafood production, trade, purchases, and consumption using a database linking over a decade’s worth of information through 2020.
Referencing the database, it confirmed the country’s seafood import-export ratio has resulted in a loss of nutrition for U.K. citizens, despite the fact oily fish caught and farmed in U.K. waters could provide nearly 75 percent of daily recommended omega-3 intake and almost half of recommended vitamin B12 levels.
Instead of being consumed domestically, the study showed most U.K. salmon, herring, and mackerel is sold abroad, while the majority of seafood eaten in the country, such as shrimp, cod, salmon, and tuna, is imported.
Rowett Institute Professor of Human Nutrition Baukje de Roos told SeafoodSource that while most previous research focused on either the production or consumption of seafood, the Rowett team wanted to combine the two focus areas to understand how seafood consumption in the U.K. relates to global food supply chains...
