In terms of the quality we are probably rated in the top three in the European market and the top two or three in the Asian market. The challenge now for the industry will getting more out of less to hold onto their markets. For the Osborns it means delving back into the past and forsaking the mass commodity live eel market for a bit of processing smoked eel. It's a way of value adding says Ken Osborn. Indeed the Osborns are planning a complete marketing makeover of the sometimes-maligned fish.
Packaging is instrumental in changing the image of the eel.
We do things like eel fillet where we cut the eel into 200 gm portions type size pieces. Underneath the skin when it's smoked there's a beautiful pink flesh, it looks very attractive in a shop window. We tend to think of eels as slimy snake like creatures and while they're slimy there's nothing snakelike about them. While that taste test enjoyed a positive response from the consumer point of view, for the producers there remains a rather unpalatable issue of tax on their biggest seller, live eels. Perhaps when the humble eel pushes aside crays and oysters to become the plat du jour of the influential and powerful this legislative quirk may be addressed.