More needs to be done to promote seafood as a healthy, cost-effective protein capable of meeting a growing population’s nutritional needs.
This was the key message from the annual Norway-UK Seafood Summit held on 27 February at Fishmonger’s Hall in London after a two-year pandemic break.
“Seafood has an important role to play in future food systems and is a vital part of a health and sustainable diet,” said Norwegian Minister for Fisheries and Ocean Policy, Bjørnar Selnes Skjæran.
Norway is the UK’s largest supplier of seafood, exporting around 146,000 tonnes of mostly salmon, cod, haddock and prawns worth £625 million to the UK each year.
“Increasing seafood consumption, both in the context of sustainability and health benefits, is a shared agenda for Norway and the UK,” continued Skjæran.
The summit hosted around 200 stakeholders from the seafood sector and related industries. Registered dietitian, Juliette Kellow, questioned whether the message to ‘eat at least two portions of fish a week’ was hitting home and called for a new approach to promoting seafood as budget-friendly, particularly at a time when 27% of shoppers report they are struggling financially.
She suggested that ‘pescatarian’ might be renamed to something more relatable and called for clearer marketing and better engagement with younger audiences to make seafood more ingrained into mainstream diets.
“We need 70% more food to feed our growing population,” said Norwegian Seafood Council UK director, Victoria Braathen. “Ninety-eight per cent of all food is currently produced on land, yet with two thirds of our planet covered by oceans, this is a clear opportunity for more,” she said.
