Saving Seafood

Glenn Cooke, Ian Smith offer timeline for COVID-19 foodservice recovery

February 9, 2021 — The global COVID-19 pandemic has been a mixed bag for the seafood industry, with retailers notching record seafood sales and the category as a whole seeing gains, even as the foodservice industry virtually collapsed.

That downturn is expected to change direction this year, with foodservice operators optimistic about 2021. Seafood company CEOs and advisors, speaking during the National Fisheries Institute’s Global Seafood Market Conference’s economic outlook panel, also expressed optimism about the industry’s recovery. While in the short-term the rebound may be slight, as trend experts have predicted, once relative normalcy returns demand could see a big boost.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

Seafood processors pay a steep price to keep workers safe from coronavirus

August 13, 2020 — When it comes to COVID-19 hotspots none are hotter than US meat and seafood processing plants, where virus outbreaks are hard to contain in the crowded, largely indoor spaces.

The prolonged close workplace contact among workers, shared work spaces, shared transportation to and from the workplace, congregate housing, and frequent community contact with fellow workers are the “distinctive factors” that have led to the rapid spread of the virus to more than 16,000 meat and poultry plant workers in the United States, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

The situation for seafood processors in the United States and elsewhere is also challenging, even though the industry is substantially smaller than its meat and poultry counterparts. Nearly 1,300 positive coronavirus cases have been tied to the seafood sector worldwide, with the majority of those occurring in the United States, according to IntraFish data.

Read the full story at IntraFish