SALMON STARS IN 2022 SEAFOOD EXCELLENCE AWARD-WINNING PRODUCTS

BY BHAVANA SCALIA-BRUCE

TWO COMPANIES won big at the 2022 Seafood Excellence Awards, an industry innovation competition – held annually during Seafood Expo North America in Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.A. – that seeks to recognize the “Best New Retail Product” and “Best New Foodservice Product” to hit the market each year.

Last year’s winners, DOM International Limited and Bakkafrost, were selected from a group of 11 finalists by an esteemed panel of judges comprised of seafood buyers and industry experts.

Scarborough, Ontario, Canada-based DOM International Limited was awarded the “Best New Retail Product” for its Salmon Poke. The prize-winning poke product comes in a frozen format, the company noted, and is available in 625-gram and 200-gram packages.

“Each individual package comes pre-prepared and perfectly portioned with our classic Atlantic salmon marinated using our favorite Hawaiian inspired sauce for your enjoyment,” according to DOM International.

DOM International Owner Domenic Porporo told SeafoodSource in 2022 that the Salmon Poke product had been on the company’s development radar for several years.

“It’s gone through different variations… then we thought, the important part is the salmon,” Porporo said. “So, we decided, well, let’s just do the salmon and let everybody else fix it and eat it the way they want it. We’ve been really focusing hard on new products. We have a whole slew of ideas and now it’s just trying to get them to a position where we can just pull the trigger on them.”

The company has also launched a tuna poke product in addition to its salmon variation. Since winning the Seafood Excellence honor in 2022, Porporo said the popularity of DOM International’s poke has only increased.

“We haven’t been able to keep up with demand,” Porporo recently told SeafoodSource. He added that the