Surimi Seafood is Perfection Hidden in Plain Sight Says Expert at Wild Alaska Pollock Annual Meeting

Health professionals will be key to motivating purchase for Wild Alaska Pollock surimi seafood as it is “perfection hidden in plain sight” according to a health professional expert presenting to a record-setting crowd at the annual Wild Alaska Pollock meeting. Eat Well Global Vice President Chris Rich, presenting to more than 250 attendees this morning, shared the latest research they conducted which highlighted the increasing importance of health professionals—including registered dieticians and nutritionists—in reaching consumers and how those influential voices will come to value and appreciate surimi seafood for its many wellness attributes.

“Surimi is the perfect seafood for anyone,” said Chris Rich, Vice President at public relations firm Eat Well Global. “We’ve identified four themes that we believe registered dieticians can use to introduce their constituents to Wild Alaska Pollock surimi seafood and those are improved diet quality, accessible nutrition, limitless possibilities and approachable flavor.”

Rich also discussed the “state of nutrition” sharing with the audience the recently released Food and Drug Administration (FDA) proposed rule on the definition of “healthy,” as well as the recent White House Conference on Hunger, Nutrition and Health.

“The White House Conference helped to further highlight the importance of registered dieticians in reaching consumers,” added Rich. “We believe these new, focus-group-tested message pillars can be used to assist these registered dieticians and retail dietitians in introducing their patients to surimi seafood made with Wild Alaska Pollock.”

Earlier in the morning, opening the fourth-ever GAPP Annual Meeting, Senator Murkowski and Senator Sullivan opened the event with video messages. Senator Murkowski emphasized her efforts to ensure that Saltonstall-Kennedy grants reflect the purpose of further advancing wild-caught fisheries like Wild Alaska Pollock and the need for increased work in Congress to continue pushing for trade development and export market access. Senator Sullivan shared similar sentiments, highlighting Alaska seafood and specifically the Wild Alaska Pollock fishery’s super-star status in terms of its sustainability, the jobs it provides and the products that feed consumers around the globe, including children in the National School Lunch Program.

“Alaska is the superpower of seafood in terms of the harvest, of commercial subsistence, personal use, and sport fish—we constitute almost two-thirds of almost all seafood harvested in America and we do it with the highest standards and best practices,” said Senator Sullivan via video message.

The morning session also included remarks from Alaska Regional Administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Jon Kurland, who shared with attendees his gratitude for the work that the industry does with NOAA to continuously improve.

“We have a lot to make us proud and optimistic. The pollock fishery has very little bycatch and we want to keep improving,” said Kurland. “Overall, it’s about ensuring continued sustainability. We have a great track record and we want to keep it up and we’re thankful for the industry’s commitment and leadership.”

Attendees also received a fishery update presented by GAPP Economic Advisor Ron Rogness and Wells Fargo Senior Vice President Jana Dombrowski, both of whom were optimistic about the fishery’s continued growth especially in terms of export prices which are up nearly thirty percent and 47 percent for surimi and fillets, respectively, since 2018. Most significantly, Rogness noted that Wild Alaska Pollock is consistently in the top-five seafood items in per capita consumption.

“Credit GAPP, credit the industry, for during that time taking advantage of this window of opportunity in being more competitive than other whitefish products and driving home the attributes of Wild Alaska Pollock to consumers,” said Rogness.

Dombrowski also provided an overview of the U.S. terrestrial protein market and plant-based proteins overall, discussing the effects of inflation on food costs and consumer sentiment, which Dombrowski noted drives about seventy percent of GDP.

“U.S. protein per-capita consumption has been pretty steady, my personal hope is that seafood consumption increases,” added Dombrowski. “When you’re talking about the terrestrial proteins, you’re talking about one pig or one cow or one chicken. There’s hundreds of species of seafood and I think there’s a lot of room for seafood to increase its share of the [protein consumption] pie.”

The annual meeting will continue into the afternoon with more high-profile speakers and end with a closing reception this evening at the Westin Seattle.

In addition to Title Sponsors the Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute and Global Seas, GAPP would like to thank its other event sponsors: Alaska Fisheries Development Foundation, Alaska Ship Supply, Alaskan Observers, Inc, Aleutian-Pribilof Island Community Development Association, American Seafoods, Angulas Aguinaga, Aquamar, Arctic Storm Management Group, Baader, Beck Pack Systems, Central Bering Sea Fishermen Association, Clark Nuber, Coastal Villages Region Fund, Delta Western (NorthStar Energy), Diversified Communications, Eat Well Global, Fishermen’s News, Glacier Fish Company, Global Seafood Alliance, Golden Alaska Seafoods, Gorton’s, Grow Girl Seattle, High Liner Foods, Highland Refrigeration, HomeStreet Bank, Hospitality Performance Network Global, Islandsbanki, Ketchum, Key Bank, Lafferty’s EMS, McKinley Research, Net Your Problem, Northwest Farm Credit Services, Norton Sound Economic Development Corporation, Ocean Beauty Seafoods, Perkins Coie, Petro Marine, Port of Seattle, Resolve Marine, Restaurant Depot, Seafood 101, Seafood Nutrition Partnership, Simrad, Sysco Pacific NW, Trans-Ocean Products, Trident Seafoods, UniSea Inc., United Catcher Boats, Urner Barry, Wells Fargo, Wesmar Company, and Westward Seafoods.