reLAKSation
204.
Healthy
eating – who cares?: Scottish Quality
Salmon recently issued a press release encouraging mums to be to increase the
amount of salmon in their diet to boost the brain development of unborn babies.
The omega-3 fatty acids found in salmon are being increasingly linked with brain
development in unborn babies as well as infants and young children. It is
thought that as long as there are sufficient essential fatty acids in the
mothers diet then they will pass through the placenta to the foetus.
The
health benefits of omega-3 fatty acids are considered to be salmons major
selling point and the industry are clearly trying to capitalise on this to boost
sales of salmon. Yet the latest statistics issued by the UK government would
suggest that the salmon industry is simply wasting its time.
Family
Food – Expenditure and Food Survey 2003-2004
provides a snapshot of the consumption patterns of nearly 17,000 people from
7,000 households. The Guardian newspaper summed up the findings by saying that
the survey revealed a nation which harbours an increasing fondness for boozing
at home and prefers sugary food to fruit and vegetables. Whilst purchases of
alcohol have increased by 10% a year, sales of fruit and vegetables fell by
nearly 2% with the average person eating 3.7 portions a day compared to the
recommended five portions. Sales of white fish have also fallen, as has tea and
bread.
Professor
Tim Lang, Head of Food Policy at City University called these latest statistics
very bad news. He told the Independent newspaper that the current health model
is not working. Messages for consuming salt, fat, alcohol and processed foods
are either outgunning health messages or healthy messages are competing with
price. The simple fact is that consumers like all the foods and drinks that are
considered to be bad for health. Brigid McKeith, senior nutrition scientist at
the British Nutrition Foundation said that the real problem is that consumers do
know what they should be eating but just don’t do it. Clearly, healthy eating
messages such as those issued by Scottish Quality Salmon are falling on deaf
ears. Perhaps, the industry needs to be taking a different approach.
We,
at Callander McDowell, have always argued that the best way to persuade
consumers to eat the right products is to put them in forms with which they are
familiar and that they will already eat. McDonalds is perhaps not the best
example, but fast foods such as Big Macs are thought to be responsible for the
rise in obesity, with over 1 million British children now classified as obese.
The survey shows that sales of junk foods have soared.
McDonalds
have already responded to such criticism and introduced a range of more healthy
foods. Children are more likely to eat healthier foods if it comes from
McDonalds than if it is served at home. However, if food habits are to change
then it is Government which must adopt a different approach. The Conservative
opposition party said that these statistics are a damning indictment of the
Government’s failure to tackle public health. They say that the nanny state
approach has not worked and that consumers have rebelled against it.
Meanwhile,
salmon producers should think again at the way they approach the market. One
piece of good news from the survey is that sales of salmon continue to increase,
albeit by a small amount. This increase can be explained by a number of factors
so it would be premature to suggest that consumers are responding to salmon’s
positive health message, for clearly these messages are something that most
consumers prefer to ignore.
Bigger
slice: We, at Callander McDowell, have always
argued that attempts to interfere in the salmon market are not a solution to any
problems encountered by salmon farmers. All they do is create a further problem,
which then must be dealt with. Much of the market disruption throughout the last
decade has been the result of such market interference and the reluctance to
resolve the problems at their roots.
Salmon
prices have certainly risen since the imposition of trade measures by the EU,
but whilst such price increases have been welcomed by many farmers, the reality
is that they cannot be sustained. Prices will undoubtedly fall and the
likelihood is that they will fall below the level set for the MIP.
The
MIP is no guarantee that prices will be prevented from falling below the agreed
level as it only affects salmon imported from Norway. European producers can
undercut the MIP and equally processors can turn to Chile. Since the current
measures were introduced, imports from Chile have started to increase. According
to Intrafish, Danish imports have risen by 2,300%, although the tonnages are
still small. Meanwhile, Chilean exports to Germany have tripled by 300%.
Clearly, Chilean fish are aiming for a bigger slice of the European market.
We
continue to argue that any problems experienced by the salmon industry will
never be resolved by trade measures. The only real solution to long term
stability is through the adoption of much more market-led strategies. Until
then, the industry focus will continue to be wrongly directed towards
production-led solutions.
Miss(i)on
or Miss off: The main feature in the latest
issue of the IntraFish newspaper is a profile of Bruce Sandison, which describes
him as a man with a mission. Mr Sandison has waged war on the salmon farming
industry in an attempt to protect his beloved sport angling. He blames the rise
of salmon farming for the decline in sport fisheries. There can be no doubt that
he, together with Don Staniford, have caused the salmon farming industry
significant problems through continued adverse publicity but whilst IntraFish
have now decided to feature Mr Sandison in their newspaper, the reality is that
Mr Sandison’s campaign seems to be nothing more than a spent force. His
failure to persuade the Advertising Standards Authority that the advertisement
run by Sainsbury’s was misleading was a last gasp. He has since failed to
update the Salmon Farm Monitor website, which he used to do on a monthly basis.
Mr
Sandison says his biggest coup was in October 2002 when he and others picketed
100 British supermarkets handing out 30,000 leaflets warning of the dangers of
eating farmed salmon. He said as a result of this campaign, he has subsequently
seen that supermarkets are stocking less and less salmon. He said that on one
occasion in Orkney, he saw no salmon at all on sale.
As
regular observers of the supermarket sector, we, at Callander McDowell can
report that we too have on occasion have found supermarkets devoid of salmon.
The reason being that they have sold out faster than anticipated and have been
waiting deliveries. The reality is that Mr Sandison’s campaign had absolutely
no effect on sales of salmon in the UK. Supermarkets have continued to sell
increasing volumes of salmon despite Mr Sandison’s attempt to deter consumers.
His views that sales have fallen as nothing but wishful thinking, although the
recent price rises affected by the EU may have done more to deter customers than
any of Mr Sandison’s efforts.
Mr
Sandison’s campaign to blame salmon farming for the decline of wild salmon
fisheries may have also taken a knock back because the latest research suggests
that the fall in wild salmon numbers may be better explained by the continued
practice of drift net fishing. According to an article in the Independent just
10 out of the 64 salmon rivers in England and Wales have sustainable populations
of wild salmon. All these rivers are a long way from the salmon farms of
Scotland’s west coast.
Finally,
Mr Sandison’s campaign may be threatened by the recent news that Don Staniford
is being taken to court by Creative Salmon for alleged remarks he made about
their salmon. Perhaps, if the salmon industry in Scotland had been as ready to
resort to the courts as their colleagues in Canada, then the industry could have
avoided much of the damaging adverse publicity generated by Mr Sandison’s
Salmon Farm Protest Group.