6 minute read
Processing News
‘We were let down’ say Scottish processors
Scotland’s seafood processors have accused both the Westminster and Holyrood governments of letting the sector down “in its hour of greatest need”
Above: Jimmy Buchan JIMMY Buchan, chief executive of the Scottish Seafood Association said that while members welcomed the promise of financial support, the £23m Seafood Disruption Scheme for the seafood industry pledged by the UK government to offset the impact of Brexit and Covid-19 only represented 50% of losses.
It also excluded larger businesses and those exporters which decided not to send larger consignments because the cost exceeded the value.
He said: “The truth is that while the financial support that has been forthcoming has been gratefully received, its partial nature means that businesses are being left in great difficulties in their hour of greatest need.
“There have been a lot of promises relating to smoothing the export path post-Brexit, but very few of them have been delivered.”
Buchan further criticised the UK government for failing to spell out how
the £100m funding scheme promised for fisheries when the Brexit deal was signed at Christmas would work and which businesses would benefit.
He declared: “This funding package now looks like a convenient headline designed to appease the sector. When will they start taking bids, who will be eligible, when will pay-outs be made?
“We need to know, but we are greeted with silence on this at every turn.”
He also accused the Scottish government, which has set up its own scheme to compensate seafood producers and ports, for failing to use its devolved powers or funds to help the processing industry.
He said: “They have a £14m fund, yet there are no guidelines and application process in place. We know only that all projects must be for SMEs and completed by 31 March 2022 – far too tight a timetable for major works.”
Buchan said it was time for both governments to step up to the plate and back their promises with meaningful action.
Relay initiative launches a voyage of discovery
THE variety and quality of UK seafood is the focus of an ini� a� ve launched in April to raise public awareness. The UK Seafood Relay celebrates UK commercial fi shing and the special coastal community behind it.
By collabora� ng with volunteers from around the country, the Relay will gather stories, photos and videos from key fi shing towns to share with the Bri� sh public on a purpose-built, interac� ve map. The project, based around the Discover Seafood website discoverseafood.uk/uk-relay/, aims to foster a greater understanding of local seafood at a point in � me when support and recogni� on of the UK fi shing industry is cri� cal.
The Relay local journalists, bloggers, photographers and fi lmmakers, both hobbyist and professional, the relay ‘adventurers’ will travel along the UK’s dynamic coastline to gather stories from fi shmongers and fi shermen, and share them with the online Discover Seafood community.
Gavin O’Donnell, Fisheries Programme Offi cer at the Fishmongers’ Company said: “The UK Seafood Relay will support Discover Seafood in its mission to educate the public about seafood, seasonality and sustainability, shining a light on the ‘faces of fi shing’ that deserve to be put on the seafood map but as of yet remain ‘undiscovered.’ By telling the story of Bri� sh fi sh through the people and communi� es behind it, we want to encourage the public to support the UK’s rich fi shing culture and turn to local, sustainably-caught, Bri� sh seafood in the wake of Brexit.”
Ka� e S� lwell, one of the relay’s fi rst “adventurers”, said: “Taking part in the Relay has helped me to reconnect with the coastal community in my hometown. It’s a great privilege to be able to share the stories of the people making a living through fi shing sustainably and to engage a new audience through storytelling and crea� vity. I’ve met so many interesting characters and have learnt so much about the people who land the catch on my plate!”
Fish supplier meets tough safety standard
GRIMSBY salmon and trout specialist JCS Fish is again celebra� ng achieving the Bri� sh Retail Consor� um (BRC) Global Standard for Food Safety, despite the complexity and challenge involved in audi� ng under Covid-19 condi� ons.
The standard is the most widely-used quality assurance standard in food manufacturing and the benchmark applied by all the UK’s major supermarkets to qualify their suppliers. It is usually awarded as the result of a detailed on-site audit by a BRC-accredited assessor, something not possible this year.
JCS Financial Controller, Rosie Knight, said: “The BRC audit is always rigorous, but the Covid era assessment proved excep� onally complex, requiring two and a half days of online assessment, factory inspec� ons conducted via WhatsApp and the electronic sharing and processing of a vast number of documents.
“We es� mate that achieving BRC under the current condi� ons was about 25% more costly in terms of both � me and expenditure. Nevertheless, we’re delighted to have overcome the challenges to achieve our BRC accredita� on once again.”
Family-owned JCS Fish specialises in salmon. The company has managed to maintain its £10m revenue over the past 12 months by replacing the loss of foodservice sales during the pandemic with increased home delivery and retail sales.
Established 21 years ago by husband and wife team Andrew and Louise Coulbeck, JCS Fish now employs 40 people on Grimsby Fish Docks and has an annual turnover of £10m.
Above: JCS Fish, Ann Rogers and Rosie Knight
The company’s own award-winning BigFish™ brand is distributed in independent and online retailers (including Ocado and MuscleFoods) and includes products such as prepared salmon fi llets, fi sh cakes, breaded salmon and smoked fi sh.
Bremnes Seashore invests in processing centre
ONE of Norway’s leading suppliers of farmed salmon is investing around NOK 400m (£35m) in a large new processing centre and cold store. The development will cover an area of 14,000 square metres at the Bremnes Seashore factory at Kvednavikjo in the Bømlo municipality in the south west of the country.
The Seashore group said: “It will enable us to produce larger volumes by utilising state-of-the-art and sustainable production methods, at the same time as we increase value creation and the ripple effects from our operations.”
The new centre will also be built adopting a sustainable and energy-efficient production system.
Bremnes Seashore AS is one of the largest privately owned salmon farmers in Norway with facilities spread across 23 locations in nine different municipalities, with SALMA as its main brand.
The company has its own research and development facilities using technology which it claims allows it to produce salmon products of a higher and more consistent quality than its
competitors.
CEO Einar Eide said consumers were today demanding a more refined product which the group intended to deliver.
“The new factory will enable us to process significantly larger volumes than we are doing today and it will also allow us to expand the number of products.”
He added: “Consumers all over the world can look forward to more quality products from us.”
Factory manager Geir Ivar Adnanes said that for the past 29 years the site at Kvednavikjo has been a laboratory for quality and providing innovative products, which has formed the basis for the company’s strong brands.
The cold store will be built first, but the entire project should be completed by the end of 2023. Current production will be unaffected.
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