Seafood consumption, preferences, and product labels in the U.S.: connecting nutrition, profitability, and sustainability
Creators: name: Errickson, Lauren Buyofsky
Publisher: name: No Publisher Supplied
Year: 2022

description: The U.S. seafood sector is a prime example of how diet, nutrition, and environmental sustainability intersect, with important implications for public health and the domestic seafood economy. Eating seafood can help consumers reduce their risk of nutrition-related chronic diseases such as obesity, cardiovascular disease, and diabetes mellitus; choosing sustainable seafood also supports ecosystem health. However, consumer selection of seafood products that are both healthy and sustainable is key to these outcomes. There is little academic research demonstrating the extent to which U.S. consumers collectively consider health, nutrition, and environmental sustainability attributes of seafood or, if they do, whether they have the tools necessary to identify these attributes in the retail marketplace. The objectives of this research were to identify current seafood consumption trends among U.S. consumers; determine consumer preferences and willingness to pay for health, nutrition, and sustainability attributes of seafood products; and characterize product attributes currently communicated on seafood product packages in the U.S. retail marketplace.An online survey was conducted with 1,200 U.S. nationally representative consumers and an oversample of 400 women of childbearing age to assess consumer seafood intake before and during the early stages (March 2020 – March 2021) of the COVID-19 pandemic. Over 90% of U.S. consumers (88% of women of childbearing age) eat seafood, yet only 19% of U.S. consumers (18% of women of childbearing age) met the Dietary Guidelines for Americans (DGAs) recommendations for seafood during the pandemic. Though low, these findings actually reflect an increase in the number of U.S. consumers meeting the DGAs during the pandemic compared to before. Meeting the DGAs was associated with higher income, greater levels of education, and living in a state with Atlantic Ocean coastline or Great Lakes shoreline. Race also predicted DGA adherence, with consumers overall and women who are Asian, Hispanic, or Black more likely to meet the DGAs than those who are White. Additionally, consumers who reported eating seafood for reasons of improved health were more likely to meet the DGAs. Consumers who ate more seafood during the pandemic reported doing so for improved health or adding variety to their diets; some indicated financial improvement and/or eating at home more often. Those who ate less seafood reported financial hardship, lack of availability, and preparation challenges as main reasons for decreasing consumption. Most consumers who eat seafood purchased some to prepare at home during the pandemic, including through online grocery orders and/or meal kits. The form of products purchased varied by seafood type, with fresh salmon, frozen shrimp, and cooked oysters bought most frequently. More consumers indicated having purchased wild salmon, shrimp, and oysters than purchased farm-raised products.Of the 1,200 U.S. consumers surveyed, those from a household in which someone eats seafood also participated in a series of online discrete choice experiments (DCEs). Based on the products respondents selected from six hypothetical- but realistic- choice scenarios presented, a mixed logit model was used to determine consumer preferences and willingness to pay (WTP) for salmon, shrimp, and oyster product attributes. Consumers demonstrated a significant preference for domestically produced salmon and shrimp, and a WTP for domestic salmon, shrimp, and oysters. Preferences and WTP for other attributes varied across seafood types. Consumers significantly preferred sustainable, antibiotic-free, and mercury-free salmon and shrimp, but not oyster, products. Protein labels on salmon and oyster, but not shrimp, products significantly increased consumer preferences and WTP. Labels indicating salmon and shrimp contained heart-healthy omega-3s and were low-calorie, respectively, significantly increased consumer WTP; zinc labels on oyster products did not.Complementing the consumer seafood intake survey and DCEs, a content analysis of seafood package labels was conducted to determine which seafood attributes are currently reflected on packages. Salmon, shrimp, and oyster packages in the Label Insight database were reviewed in October 2020. Three hundred twenty terms in the database were characterized according to nine themes: Health, Nutrition, Sustainability, Quality and Taste, Convenience and Value, Place of Origin, Sociocultural Values, Free-From, and Other. Each attribute was represented by at least 10 different terms. Term use varied by seafood type, except for Quality and Taste terms, which were used consistently across salmon, shrimp, and oysters. Salmon products listed significantly more attributes on their labels than did shrimp and oyster products. Quality and Taste, Convenience and Value, and Nutrition, but not Health, terms were frequently used in conjunction with Sustainability terms on seafood packages. Though many seafood products displayed required country of origin labels, few promoted domestic or local production- attributes preferred by many consumers in this study- as a main attribute of the product.Overall adherence to the DGAs increased slightly among U.S. consumers during the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic, presenting an opportunity for seafood producers and public health nutrition professionals to capitalize on this momentum to maintain, and ideally encourage further, seafood intake. That consumers are willing to pay a premium for domestic seafood indicates ample opportunity for U.S. producers to meet demand, especially if they offer products that meet consumer preferences for healthy, sustainable products. A remaining issue is that, at present, complex labeling practices may limit consumers’ ability to select seafood that is both healthy and sustainable in the retail marketplace, even if they would like to purchase these products. Consistent labeling practices that promote domestic, sustainable, and healthy choices across wild-caught and farm-raised seafood may better aid consumers in retail settings, which in turn can contribute to improved public health outcomes while building the domestic seafood economy through increased seafood consumption. Collaborative efforts between the seafood industry and the public health and nutrition sectors could collectively increase consumer awareness, identification, and ultimately intake of healthy, sustainable seafood in the U.S.