A recent cross-continent market survey carried out by agri-giant Cargill showed seafood lags behind some other proteins in consumer perception, but Aqua Nutrition President Pilar Cruz sees ways for the sector to overcome the challenges.

While seafood continues to own the health halo of omega-3s, based on Cargill’s research, it's behind several other proteins when ranked on "wholesomeness" -- a surprising result, given seafood's health credentials.

Eggs were voted the most wholesome protein product by a quarter of consumers in the survey across the United States, Norway and the Philippines. Milk and seafood came next globally, but the United States was more bullish on beef than fish, putting fish in a sad fifth place behind red meat and even plant-based protein products.

But there may be a few things beyond "wholesomeness" that influence consumer behavior when it comes to seafood, Cruz said.

The first is diversity. "Consumers are thinking of protein as a nutrient, and they want diversity in terms of nutrition and flavor – a wide range of available protein sources gives consumers this diversity," Cruz told IntraFish.

The second is accessibility. Consumers are looking for protein sources that meet their needs more fully, especially when it comes to the promise of better cost or convenience.

Finally, there is a generational component that reinforces this desire for diversity of flavor and promise of convenience.

"Millennial and Gen X generations are driving an important change in how people consume seafood," she said.

"They are much more likely to desire additional product variety than other generations – and they tell us they find limited variety in current seafood product offerings, including unique flavor profiles, easily prepared items, and convenient and sustainable packaging."

Consumer questions must be answered

A modern day desire for supply chain transparency also drives the ranking, said Cruz.

"Today, consumers want to know: Who made their food? How did they treat the animals? Did they deal fairly with the farmers and workers? What was the animal fed? What was the environmental impact? Consumers want to better understand and be able to tell the story of the food they are eating," she said. "Transparency is becoming table stakes."

In these terms it is difficult to distinguish where consumers see where exactly seafood is lacking, with consumers intertwining things such animal welfare, antibiotic use and environmental impacts with negative personal health impacts. But what is clear is that there is a bigger job to be done in the seafood industry than just improving marketing.

Late last year Cargill convened a summit of the North Sea salmon value chain for an open discussion about the future of sustainable salmon feed, Cruz noted.

The goal of the summit, which included traditional and novel raw material suppliers, farmers, processors and retailers, was to determine what would it take to deliver transformational change in salmon aquaculture through feed.

The group of industry leaders identified three key areas of opportunity and collaborations across the value chain: sustainable raw materials, measurements and reporting and communication.

"It’s about doing what we need to do to make this change, then telling the story," said Cruz.

Interview

Why is seafood losing the protein battle? Cargill's aquaculture boss has some ideas