Seafood Quality: Issues for Consumer Researchers

Benefits of seafood consumption have been discussed extensively over the last decade. Concurrently, many issues regarding the quality of the seafood supply have arisen. In many ways, the seafood industry of today is similar to the meat industry at the turn of the century. While today's industry exposes may come from a television set, rather than a book, the impact is similar. Negative news brings a decline in sales; consumer advocates and industry groups representing sellers of high quality products, such as the National Fisheries Institute, call for government intervention to provide protection from unsafe products (Talley 1989). Examples of such policies include a federal grading system, mandatory seafood inspection, and restructuring the seafood industry to encourage private brand names, labeling, and quality control. In evaluating alternative public policies, it would be prudent first to carefully evaluate the problems in the seafood marketing system which have lead to these quality losses. The purpose of this paper is to review the issues surrounding seafood quality, to compare the present situation to historical developments in other food industries, to evaluate market failures in the industry, and to suggest how alternative public policies would improve the seafood distribution system and lead to higher quality products. Both fresh and processed products will be discussed. IMPORTANCE OF SEAFOOD AND NEED FOR QUALITY PRODUCTS BENEFITS OF SEAFOOD Benefits of seafood consumption have been emphasized repeatedly in the past decade. Seafood has been promoted by nutritionists and the media as the health food of the 1980s. Although the seafood industry itself has been slow to promote seafood's healthfulness, most consumers are aware of its nutritional value. Seafood is high in protein, vitamins A, D, and Bs; minerals; and cholesterol-reducing Omega-3 fatty acids. The additional benefits of preventing heart disease, lowering blood pressure, and supplying eicosapentaenoic acid (DHA)--fatty acids which are generally recognized as the main biologically active components of fish lipids--are less well-known. Epidemiological data and clinical trials have shown that lipid intake from the consumption of fish has improved the symptoms and/or caused remission of angina pectoris, asthma, atherosclerosis, arthritis, inflammation, psoriasis, thrombosis, multiple sclerosis, tumor growth, a number of autoimmune diseases, and can aid brain and eye development in children (Nettleton 1987; Kinsella 1988). People who regularly eat fish have been shown to have a lower probability of heart disease, diabetes, arthritis, bronchial asthma, psoriasis, and have fewer cases of certain cancers (Nettleton 1987). A recent report of the Joint Nutrition Monitoring Evaluation Committee (JNMEC) (Joint Nutrition Monitoring Evaluation Committee 1986) states that the six highest priority nutrition problems related to food consumption are excessive consumption of kilocalories, total fat, saturated fat, cholesterol, sodium, and alcohol. Seafood consumption can help control many of these problems and provides a healthy alternative for consumers. Consumption of Seafood For a variety of reasons--health, economics, changing lifestyles, population growth--Americans are consuming more fish (Vondruska, Otwell, and Martin 1988). Although it is estimated that American consumers spend $15 billion annually on seafood, about four percent of their food budgets, seafood consumption lags behind consumption of other animal protein such as beef and poultry (Miller 1985; Morse 1987). Per capita seafood consumption in 1989 was 15.9 pounds, a 35 percent increase in the last 20 years (U.S. Department of Commerce 1990). Per capita consumption in 1989 was 111 pounds for red meat and 60 pounds for poultry (Dunham 1990). The increase in seafood consumption has occurred despite the fact that the price index for seafood has risen faster than any other animal food commodity over the same time period. …