6 minute read
Martin Jaffa
BY DR MARTIN JAFFA
Not just another fi sh
Salmon offers, arguably, the best way to persuade consumers to eat more oily fi sh
ACCORDING to a new survey commissioned by Food Standards Scotland, Scots are ea� ng less than a quarter of their recommended dietary requirement of oily fi sh. The survey was conducted by researchers from Abertay University who found that the average intake of oil rich fi sh was 33g per person per week. This compares against a recommended intake of 140g.
Food Standards Scotland have said that there has been li� le change in the consump� on of oily fi sh in Scotland since 2001, but it should be men� oned that consump� on of oily fi sh in the rest of the UK is not much be� er.
Unfortunately, the report does not seem to be in the public domain, so it is impossible to delve deeper into the fi ndings, especially which fi sh presenta� ons were included in the survey, and which were not. Na� onal measurements of fi sh consump� on typically include all presenta� ons such as ambient, chilled, and frozen. Tuna remains popular in the UK, only because it is available in a wide range of � nned and pouched presenta� on. By comparison, most salmon is sold fresh or chilled. The two products serve very diff erent consumer needs.
Headlines like “Scots ea� ng less than a quarter of their recommended oily fi sh” will usually bring to mind fresh fi sh that might be found on the fi shmonger’s counter rather than � nned fi sh such as tuna. Consump� on of all fresh and chilled fi sh has been falling for well over a decade. There was a resurgence in consump� on of these fi sh when the fi rst lockdown was announced but over the two years since, consump� on has been in slow decline. The only fi sh to buck this trend is salmon.
Last year the volume of fresh chilled salmon consumed increased in the UK by 7.8%. Sales have gone up by nearly 5% whereas sales in the overall fi sh market fell by 0.2%. My own calcula� on is that in terms of oily fi sh, the volume sold in the UK accounts for 85% of oily fi sh consump� on. By comparison, consump� on of other species such as tuna and herring hardly feature at all.
Salmon now dominates the fi sh sector, and it Above: Salmon on fi sh counter Right: Tinned tuna
is o� en said that if salmon wasn’t available, the fi sh sector would probably collapse, because the volume of sales of all other fresh and chilled fi sh would not sustain a viable business. The wri� ng is already on the wall given that Asda, Sainsbury’s and Tesco have given up mainstream fi sh counters. It is already hard to fi nd independent fi shmongers in many towns and ci� es. In my experience those that do well rely on local specialist consumers.
I recently walked down Walthamstow High Street in north-east London and passed by at least three fi shmonger shops. The unique feature of all was that unlike many other fi sh counters, there was almost no fi lleted fi sh. It was all whole and several types of fi sh on display are not those listed in industry retail surveys. The local popula� on is very diverse, and these stores serve their needs. However, if they were located fi ve miles away, they would probably never see a customer.
Aside from these specialist niche markets, wider demand for fi sh is on the wane and this is refl ected in the fi ndings of the Food Standards Scotland survey. My own view is that salmon, fuelled by the ability of a salmon farming industry that can produce fi sh of the right quality, at the � me when it is needed, and mostly at a price that consumers will pay, will drive future consump� on of oily fi sh.
This ability to produce fi sh when needed allows much greater fl exibility to supply the market than for other fi sh species. It is a factor that sets salmon apart and I would argue that this is the approach that should now be taken. Salmon needs to be seen as a protein in its own right rather than part of a wider fi sh sector. Thus, we should see supermarkets off er beef, pork, chicken and salmon, rather than salmon being seen as just another fi sh on the fi sh counter.
With an increasing trend towards local convenience stores rather than large superstores, the range of fi sh that can be displayed on shelves will shrink and this is already visible with salmon being ever-present alongside some prawns, smoked mackerel, and fi shcakes. O� en salmon is now the only fresh chilled fi sh available.
Could it be that the way to boost consump� on of oily fi sh is not to men� on oily fi sh at all but simply for the recommenda� on to be to eat salmon? This is unlikely to happen, but if Food Standards Scotland want the Sco� sh public to eat more oily fi sh they will need to be more proac� ve in ge� ng their message across. With a decline in outlets, whether fi shmongers or supermarkets, there will be li� le opportunity to buy any other oily species than salmon.
Back in 2001, it was already clear that something needed to be done to promote consump� on of oily fi sh and nothing much happened then. I suspect that the same will happen now and it will be le� to salmon producers to get more fi sh into store and fi nd ways tempt even more consumers to eat their variety of oily fi sh. FF
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