Many of us (most?) love seafood. Even in landlocked Minnesota the ocean’s bounty makes a strong case for its place at the dinner table, and we all know someone that hits Red Lobster every year for the annual eat-as-much-shrimp-as-you-can-until-your-stomach-hurts event.
Back in July, Minnesota super-company Cargill conducted a survey titled Feed4Thought in support of our seafood obsession. This survey found a caveat to the commonality of people adding salmon, tilapia, and shrimp to their daily food choices: They found that people won’t eat just any seafood; people want to know where it is coming from, and, not only do they want to know where it is coming from, they want to know that it was sourced in a responsible manner.
Now, this wasn’t an enormous survey, hitting a little more than 1,000 U.S. residents. But the findings were fairly resolute: 72% of consumers polled believe adding seafood to their diet is important to their health and nutrition, and, of those same consumers, 88% say they are willing to pay more for seafood that is certified as being known to be sustainable and responsibly-sourced. The Millennial group especially are willing to pay more for that certification with 93% answering so in the poll.
The president of Cargill Aqua Nutrition, Einar Wathne, had this to say about the survey and Cargill’s commitment to sustainable and responsibly sourced seafood: “The majority of American consumers believe seafood is important to their health and nutrition, but they also want to have peace of mind as to where it came from – and that’s where we can play an integral role. We are committed to delivering healthy seafood for future generations, and we know we must do this in a way that is responsible and meets consumer preferences.”
A few key points from the results, released in Bali, Indonesia at The Aquaculture Roundtable Series, where Wathne was a keynote speaker, are as follows:
- Out of the five seafood options given, 47% of Americans prefer shrimp (the majority).
- 84% of Americans trust that their seafood is sourced in a safe and responsible way.
- 70% of Americans say that where and how their seafood is sourced impacts their purchase decision.
(Information sourced from this press release)
