reLAKSation 266. Callander McDowell
Looking in: After a steady decline in recent weeks, the price of salmon appears to be moving back upwards, albeit only just. No doubt all industry eyes will be watching to see whether the price rise can be sustained or whether it is just a slight correction before heading down again. Unfortunately, there are so many unknown factors that it is impossible to forecast what will happen even in the short term. There can be so much focus on prices that it is sometimes possible to lose track of the greater picture and this is why it is sometimes useful to hear the views of people from outside our industry.
One story which we have yet to discuss appeared sometime ago in Intrafish. Kelly Creighton, President of Texas-based Golden Chick, operating 70 stores said that seafood will have to become less expensive if it is to really compete with chicken, pork and beef. He added that seafood is just as versatile as chicken but it costs so much more and this is what stops people from eating it at the same levels as they do chicken. He said that catfish is very popular locally and this is why he has added it to the menu but whilst he sells up to two and half million pounds of chicken a year, sales of catfish amount to only 200,000 lbs. He said catfish is just too expensive.
Mr Creighton had spoken to Intrafish before salmon prices had reached their peak. Clearly, if he thought catfish was expensive then salmon must have been completely off his radar. Clearly, there is a risk that high prices could mean that farmed salmon is priced out of the market place and this could have a detrimental effect on whether the farmed salmon industry can retain its wider consumer base.
For example, we at Callander McDowell, have begun to notice during our regular market watch of British supermarkets, that several salmon products are no longer manufactured using farmed salmon from either Scotland or Norway. Instead, the salmon in these products has been replaced with either Pink or Chum wild caught salmon. This may be a direct substitution in terms of manufacture but not in terms of taste or appeal. Our experience of such products made from wild caught Pacific salmon species is that they are definitely inferior with regard to eating quality. We believe that consumers eating such products will feel short changed by what they have bought. The possibility is that if they find the quality of these products has declined, they may be put off buying not just these products again but also any salmon product including those made from farmed salmon. Most consumers simply do not understand the difference between Atlantic and Pacific salmon and that Pacific salmon isn’t just one type of salmon but five separate species, all with very different eating qualities.
The salmon industry certainly likes high salmon prices but if the price of such returns is to damage the customer base, then we question whether is it a price worth paying?
Classicists delight: The UK supermarket Morrisons is now including the Latin scientific name of every fish on its fresh and chilled fish counters. Morrison’s told the Glasgow Herald newspaper that confusion can arise where more than one common name is used for a fish and they hope that the use of the Latin name will put an end to any such confusion.
Certainly, there can be confusion over the names of certain fish. The most notable example of this is Pacific salmon. Britons have a long history of buying Pacific salmon but it has always been as canned salmon. Three of the five Pacific species are canned and sold in the UK but whilst a fourth species is sometimes canned, it is mainly sold in the US. The three species are sockeye, Coho and pink but they are not sold under these names. Instead canned salmon is sold as ‘Red’ ‘Medium Red’ and ‘Pink’. For all consumers know, the colour refers to flesh from different parts of the same fish and not three different species.
The fourth species is Keta or Chum salmon and this is starting to appear, together with pink salmon in low cost frozen salmon products. It is these species which are now being used to replace farmed salmon in some chilled salmon products.
The final species is Chinook or King salmon and in the US, this is the highest quality salmon and is mainly sold fresh.
Fresh Pacific species are now appearing in the UK market. They have taken over from Scottish salmon as the premium salmon mainly because of its sustainable credentials which appeal to those who buy fish at the premium end of the market.
The real problem is that all the Pacific salmon species now seem to be marketed under one generic name. This is not even the Pacific salmon name, which may have helped distinguish these fish from Atlantic salmon. Instead, the fish are marketed as Alaskan salmon which only means that the fish come from Alaska. This doesn’t help the consumer identify which species they are buying. Clearly, consumers are being misled and will continue to be so until the correct labelling is used.
Perhaps, the introduction of the scientific name to labelling may be the first step.
Bad advice: It is not just consumers who are clearly confused about Pacific salmon. Experts with the Seafood Watch programme at the Monterey Bay Aquarium in California have told Intrafish that people who buy seafood should consider the environmental impact of both fishing and fish farming. Jennifer Dianto, senior programme manager said that seafood can be a healthy choice but it also has to be a healthy choice for the environment too. She said that much of the seafood is caught or farmed in ways that are not sustainable over the long term.
Since 1999, the aquarium’s Seawatch programme has produced consumer guides to help consumers choose seafood produced in the most sustainable ways. Unfortunately, they have deemed that farmed salmon is not sustainable because they claim that open sea cages lead to pollution and the feed is made from fish caught from unsustainable fisheries. They recommend that consumers buy wild caught Coho, Sockeye and King salmon, preferably from Alaska. They state that consumers should avoid ‘Atlantic salmon’ and ‘Farmed Chinook salmon’ that have been produced by farming.
King salmon are also known as Chinook so it would be understandable if consumers were confused if they come across wild caught Chinook salmon in their local retailer since Seawatch have said that Chinook should be avoided.
On their web site,
Seawatch have helpfully included the following consumer note:
‘Market names for salmon include Chinook, Chum, Coho, Sockeye and Pink salmon.
Chinook, Coho and canned salmon may be either wild-caught or farmed—the best
choice is wild-caught.’ Having advised consumers to buy King salmon, Seawatch
then appear to suggest that the name is not to be found in the marketplace. It
is no wonder consumers are confused. Even we are mystified since we have never
heard of a species of salmon called ‘canned’?
The worrying aspect of the Seawatch advice is that whilst supermarkets are slowly substituting cheaper Chum and Pink salmon into products previously made from farmed fish, there may be no incentive to return to farmed salmon once prices start to fall. These fish are not only cheaper but come with the MSC endorsement of being both sustainable and environmentally acceptable. It may not even be enough to take the organic route since organic salmon is still produced in the cages which Seawatch and others are so quick to condemn.
The Marine Stewardship Council is currently reviewing the certification for the Alaskan salmon fishery. It will be interesting to see what will happen if the fishery should fail to regain this MSC approval. Seawatch would certainly have to change their advice!