Comment
Time to act as British consumers continue to lose taste for seafood
THE Daily Mail recently published the results of yet another survey about seafood consumption in the UK which found that eating fish is a disappearing habit. This news comes as no surprise to me for I have spoken several times at meetings about how British consumers have long been losing their taste for fish, at least for fish cooked at home.
By not eating enough fish, two-thirds of people in Britain are putting their health at risk, according to the YouGov poll of 2,000 adults.
Of those surveyed, families with young children aged between five and 11 ate the least, with only 25 per cent eating fish twice a week.
By comparison, older consumers over the age of 55 ate the most, with 45 per cent consuming at least two portions a week.
Consumption has been in decline since it peaked in 2006, with an average consumption of 199g per person per week. Within 10 years it had fallen to 177g per person per week.
The figures in the survey, which was commissioned by World Cancer Research Fund, are for total consumption, including eating out. Consumption of home cooked fish has declined more sharply still.
There are lots of reasons for this decline but my view is that the overriding factor is an increasing disconnect between fresh fish and the consumer.
Fish has never been a favourite of younger shoppers but in the past they have been converted as they got older.
This is no longer happening because the parents of today’s young people are also disconnected so that there is no one from whom youngsters can learn the fish habit.
They may eat fish when they are out, but young people tend to be scared of cooking it, so avoid the fish aisle in the supermarket. Fish counters are alien territory.
What is of even more concern is that, currently, fish is relatively expensive, which makes it more unattractive to consumers. The decline can only continue.
The big question is how can this downward trend be reversed? Un- fortunately, there are no simple answers.
I think that there has to be a complete sea change, and this has to start in the classroom, and the change must be much wider than just fish.
With the added incentive of beating childhood obesity, the time surely has come to introduce food to the school curriculum.
The next generation of kids needs to be taught about where food comes from and how it is cooked. This is not happening at home so it should take place at school. Sadly, this is unlikely in the current political climate so it may be down to the supply chain to initiate the needed change.
When I make presentations on consumption, I show a picture of a cute little dog (everyone goes ahh!) and I make the point that I don’t have a dog and therefore never go down the pet food aisle in the supermarket.
In the same way, consumers who never eat fish never go past the fish counter or the chilled fish shelves. Fish is completely off their radar.
In recent years, there have been some key innovations in fish products such as flavoured fish in a ready-to-microwave pack, which is so simple it doesn’t even have to be pierced.
The pack is taken out of the card sleeve and put straight into the microwave and then straight on to the plate. This is home fish cookery at its easiest.
“What is clear is that a new approach to fish promotion is urgently required ”
Yet these packs have not really met their full potential and there is a simple reason why: they tend to be displayed with the other chilled fish and thus they are never seen by those shoppers to whom they should be of most interest.
At the same time, such microwave products are not really attractive to those consumers who already cook and eat fish. But it is exactly these consumers who get to see the new products.
The problem is with the way these products are classed as fish by the supermarket and therefore must be displayed with fish. Instead, it would be better if they were perceived to be meal options and displayed with similar meal choices, such as those made with chicken or meat.
Experts who have interpreted the YouGov poll say that some of the decline in fish consumption can be attributed to changing shopping habits.
Many adults now avoid doing a weekly shop in the type of large superstore that has a fish counter and multi-bay shelves of chilled fish.
Instead, the modern shopper visits smaller convenience stores a few times a week.
Such stores only have space for a limited range of products and, as a minor seller, fish hardly features. The small convenience store, however, would be the ideal location to stock these simple microwaveable fish packs.
Unfortunately, this is something I have yet to see and probably never will. These stores will always opt for high volume profitable items because these are what sell.
What is clear is that a new approach to fish promotion is urgently re uired but suspect that it will be a long timing in coming, i ever.