January 22, 2014 — On Wednesday, the winners of the Seafish Fish & Chip Awards will be announced to a fanfare and amidst much rejoicing. The overall winner will become an overnight celebrity and see turnover double, as visitors flock to their “chippy” to see what makes their fish and chips the best in the land.
Seafish has been running the awards for 26 years now, and they have grown in breadth and popularity. Originally set up to reward individual shops and generate publicity for the sector, they now include fourteen different categories for which businesses are appraised on sustainable sourcing practices, customer service, hygiene and staff training and —most importantly — the quality of their fish and chips!
The British have long had a love affair with fish and chips, which is somewhat ironic, given that a great deal of the population claim never to eat fish. In fact, they spend more than GBP 580 million (USD 961 million, EUR 708 million) each year on “fish suppers” and fried fish accounts for 33 percent of the overall foodservice sector.
The U.K. has around 11,000 fish and chip shops, and their product outsells Indian restaurants by four to one. Overall, the industry employs more than 61,000 people.
Cod remains the most popular fish sold in chip shops, accounting for 60 percent of sales, with haddock second at 25 percent, and the remainder made up mostly of hake, halibut, plaice, pollock and sole.
The majority of fish & chip shops in the U.K. depend on frozen-at-sea (FAS) fillets for at least part of the year and around 95 percent use FAS fillets exclusively for all the cod and haddock they sell.
Read the full story at Seafood Source