“America’s Cod Company” hinges marketing on patriotism

 

Seattle, Washington, U.S.A.-based Alaskan Leader Seafood is differentiating its products from other cod in the United States marketplace with a new marketing campaign featuring its recently-approved trademark: “America’s Cod Company.”

The new slogan, which will be utilized on packages, in grocery stores, on the supplier’s fishing boats, and in other marketing, “encapsulates everything we are,” Alaskan Leader CEO Rob Wurm told SeafoodSource. The fresh and frozen seafood supplier, which was formed in 1990, is one of the largest longline cod fishing companies in the United States. Its Marine Stewardship Council-certified cod, black cod, and halibut are harvested via hook-and-line in the Bering Sea and is fully traceable from the fishing vessel to the consumer.

“With all these uncertainties about where our fish comes from, and who is partners with who, and with traceability, we want to make a statement that, if you are interested in those things and they are important to you, this is who we are,” Wurm said. “When you see that ‘America’s Cod Company’ label, it will tell you that you can be assured of a couple things: our fish and our story starts from integrity and transparency. Any product that you buy [from us] will have that consistent quality and integrity, and we are going to stand for that product…from the time it comes on the boat to the time, it goes on your plate at the dinner table.”

Alaskan Leader owns four longline fishing vessels, which feature a “new pedigree of automation and future style and class of vessels,” Keith Singleton, president of Alaskan Leader’s value-added division, told SeafoodSource.

Study Finds High Levels of Salmon Fraud in Restaurants

Take another look at your restaurant salmon this winter. (Photo: Getty images)

As winter approaches, take a second look at that wild salmon entree you paid a premium for in a restaurant. It’s likely mislabeled.

Costco Faces Lawsuit over Sale of Prawns Allegedly Farmed by Slave Labor

Costco Wholesale Corp. customer sued the retailer on allegations that it knowingly sold frozen prawns that were the product of slave labor.

How Safe Is Your Shrimp?

Your guide to choosing the healthiest, tastiest, and most responsibly sourced shrimp. (Photo: Getty Images)

Each of us eats, on average, almost 4 pounds per year, making shrimp more popular than tuna. Once considered a special-occasion treat, shrimp has become so ubiquitous that we now expect to find it on the menu whether we’re at a pricey restaurant or a fast-food joint.

Slavery Taints Global Supply of Seafood

In this Thursday, Nov. 27, 2014 image from video, workers from Myanmar load fish onto a Thai-flagged cargo ship in Benjina, Indonesia. An intricate web of connections separates the fish we eat from the men who catch it, and obscures a brutal truth: Your seafood may come from slaves. (AP Photo/APTN)

The Burmese slaves sat on the floor and stared through the rusty bars of their locked cage, hidden on a tiny tropical island thousands of miles from home.

Survey Finds That Fish Are Often Not What Label Says

Apple Juice Made in America? Think Again.

Apple juice made in America? Think again.

NEW YORK (AP) — Which food revelation was more shocking this week?

Did it blow you away that low levels of a fungicide that isn’t approved in the U.S. were discovered in some orange juice sold here? Yawn. Or was it the news that Brazil, where the fungicide-laced juice originated, produces a good portion of the orange pulpy stuff we drink? Gasp!

While the former may have sent prices for orange juice for delivery in March down 5.3 percent earlier this week, the latter came as a bombshell to some “Buy American” supporters. But that’s not the only surprise lurking in government data about where the food we eat comes from.

Overall, America’s insatiable desire to chomp on overseas food has been growing. About 16.8 percent of the food that we eat is imported from other countries, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, up from 11.3 percent two decades ago. Here are some other facts:

— Not all juices are treated the same. About 99 percent of the grapefruit juice we drink is produced on American soil, while about a quarter of the orange juice is imported; more than 40 percent of that is from Brazil.

— About half of the fresh fruit we eat comes from elsewhere. That’s more than double the amount in 1975.

— Some 86 percent of the shrimp, salmon, tilapia and other fish and shellfish we eat comes from other countries. That’s up from about 56 percent in 1990.