Seafood News Commentary

Editor's picks: Frozen is fresh

World Headlines Editor’s picks: The rise of... Alaska senator calls GM salmon... ICCAT scientists review bluefin... Exclusive: Asian consumers demand... Germans eating more fish,... Turnaround for farmed salmon? Warm water triggers deformities in... Slade Gorton earns SQFI... Contaminants-in-fish debate... Pangasius debuts on U.S. top 10... What’s aquaculture’s future? FAO: Availability of fishmeal... Asian Seafood Exposition kicks off Young’s continues new product push ZF America, SFP team up

By James Wright, SeaFood Business associate editor
22 July, 2010 - Here’s a quick look back at this week’s SeafoodSource news coverage:

• Traceability is an opportunity, not a trade barrier, said Geir Myrold, head of the Nordic region for Norwegian technology firm TraceTracker, who talked to SeafoodSource about the challenges of tracing seafood products from harvest to the consumer. Having a transparent chain of custody, he adds, can offer you a competitive advantage, especially with technologically savvy consumers.

• Can frozen seafood be “fresher” than fresh? According to Mark Tupper of Triad Fisheries, it certainly can be. The Bothell, Wash., company’s Bruce Gore Wild Alaskan Salmon, which is cryogenically frozen at sea to minus-40 degrees F pre-rigor mortis, is a meticulously cared-for product that Tupper says makes new buyers do the “happy dance.” Part two of the interview can be viewed here.

• What is marine spatial planning? Other than a fancy word for ocean zoning, it means an ecosystem-based approach to managing marine activities, including fishing and shipping. This week, the United States government embraced marine spatial planning as a “comprehensive, integrated approach” that U.S. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said will “help our nation plan wisely for the future of our oceans and coastlines.”

• Who better to ask about the impact of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill on New Orleans restaurants than Ralph Brennan, owner and operator of three of 13 Brennan Family seafood restaurants in Louisiana? Brennan told SeafoodSource that the Gulf seafood industry took up the fight to defend the safety and quality of its products much faster than it did in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

• The battle between U.S. catfish producers and imported catfish-like species hit yet another fever pitch this week. Catfish Farmers of America on Thursday enlisted help from Food & Water Watch and U.S. Sen. Blanche Lincoln (D-Ark.), among others, to tout a new report they say should alarm consumers about the safety of imported catfish from China and pangasius from Vietnam. National Fisheries Institute spokesman Gavin Gibbons criticized the “xenophobic attacks” and a strategy he said is about regulating competition out of the market more than it is about food safety.

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Comments & Ratings

Added 8/2/2010 9:30:33 AM

Yes.....Frozen, when properly done, can be fresher than fresh. As noted, the key is a process that protects the cell walls from breakdown during the freezing process. If done well on that side, then the defrost should be harmless to the product. SuperFreezing is not so much a technology, as it is a coldchain feature. Keeping biological product below -76F(-60C) has been established by science in the 1960’s as effectively putting time on hold. Below this temperature, there is no chemical, biological, microbiological, enzyme or other activity possible...it is all dormant, thus effectively putting time on standstill and therefore the perfect, additive free, preservation method. It is an ideal process for any high value, geographically long distribution cycle. Tuna, which is our stock in trade, is a perfect example. Wagyu or kobe beef would be another. Caviar, . . . anything with a high fat content. As fat is the first and fastest element to break down post death, and it is the hardest to maintain, SuperFre

Michael McNicholas

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