SeafoodSource interviews Tim O’Shea, co-founder and CEO of CleanFish in San Francisco, about the launch of its Caribbean White Shrimp, which is sustainably harvested in a state-of-the-art aquaculture facility in Belize.
Grandin: Why introduce Caribbean White Shrimp to the marketplace?
O’Shea: Back in 2004 when CleanFish began, [VP and co-founder] Dale Sims and I started by working with the best chefs around the country, the real tastemakers, to build our brand. We knew that chefs cared, would recognize the connections between better eco-practices and fine-taste quality. We knew as we delivered the goods, the chefs would get the word out about how different the fish we were bringing to market was from what the commodity market was offering, and what a different kind of seafood company CleanFish is.
Over the last year, we’ve begun to broaden our efforts as more chefs, middle market restaurateurs and lately students are asking for these qualities in campus dining halls at universities. For responsibly caught and farmed seafood to become the dominant reality, it has to be accessible to everyone. That’s what this CleanFish move to packaged retail items is all about.
For the past several years, our fresh and never frozen Laughing Bird Shrimp, which is produced at the same Belize Aquaculture Ltd. (BAL) farm as the new CleanFish Alliance Caribbean white shrimp, has been a great success with chefs. Here was a great example of how a CleanFish Alliance connection to quality producer practices could be transformed into a unique market offering: a fresh, chemical-free, never cooked, never frozen amazing shrimp product created for professional kitchens. Now we want to offer shrimp with that taste profile and husbandry to home cooks, so launching a 1-pound frozen bag was the natural step.
How are sales, and what are buyers and consumers saying about the shrimp?
With just a few weeks out on the market, the response has been overwhelmingly positive. Consumers are increasingly questioning what they eat and are aware of the issues of traceability, hormones, antibiotics and bio-security. And smart retailers, just like the caring chefs, are helping answer their questions. Everything about this shrimp and it’s packaging tells someone concerned about what they’re feeding their family what they want to know — it’s shrimp and nothing but the shrimp, it comes from a specific, traceable place, and it’s raised in a responsible way.
Where is the product distributed?
Consumers everywhere can start asking for CleanFish Alliance Caribbean White Shrimp as it is being sold to retailers across the country, available to large chains and to boutique markets.
What makes this product sustainable and unique???
The shrimp are raised on an innovative farm in Belize that, led by a visionary founding family, has moved beyond industry standards to forge a new way of farming shrimp.
An important point from a stewardship and a bio-security point of view is that the farm is located inland, a few miles away from the Caribbean coast. The farm isn’t disturbing the sensitive coastal ecosystem and is insulated from events in the ocean, like the devastation we’re seeing in the Gulf. The shrimp are never exposed to antibiotics, hormones or pesticides, and they’re never treated with preservatives of any kind. All of this care adds up to a taste profile that’s way beyond what most home cooks have had access to.
This farm’s other revolutionary practices include an advanced bio-filtration system that uses microbes to maintain excellent water quality and provide a supplemental source of protein for the shrimp, allowing a feed conversion ratio of less than 1 pounds of marine protein to every pound of BAL shrimp; a zero water exchange system that makes BAL more energy efficient than conventional shrimp farms that have to pump thousands of gallons of water in and out of their pond to maintain water quality; and their own breeding program and hatchery that supplies the farm, so no wild stocks are harvested.
Is Belize the only country to supply this technology so far?
We have been collaborating in close relationship with this family for over five years now. The farm is really in a class of it’s own at this point. But we’re engaged in discussions with new and up-and-coming producers all the time. We want to see all shrimp farmed at this level. CleanFish Ecological Advisory is consulting with other producers willing to improve to become part of the CleanFish Alliance.
Do you hope to launch similar sustainable seafood products in the future?
Absolutely. The CleanFish Alliance Caribbean White Shrimp is our first foray into packaged retail products, but certainly not the last. Being able to offer home cooks access to the kind of quality and traceability in seafood that only committed chefs have had, is immensely gratifying. It’s democratizing access to clean, traceable food. What we call the CleanFish Movement is part of a larger food revolution taking place right before our eyes. Upstream producers are ready to move forward. Downstream seafood lovers are deeply concerned and increasingly aware of the power they hold to vote with their forks to reward better practices, better fish products and getting better food for our families. All at CleanFish are thrilled to be part of that.
