“Having achieved mass popularity, sushi can be found by consumers with ease,” said NFI Sushi Council Chairman Michael McNicholas of Culimer USA. “But for industry, locating the right information on properly sourcing and preparing sushi can be a challenge.”

With food safety as the group’s core mission, the NFI Sushi Council has created an accessible website that acts as a clearinghouse for guidance on product handling and preparation. The dynamic site invites seafood professionals to learn best practices critical to their value chain roles in producing the highest level of sushi products.

“Sushi is as much a business as a consumer trend,” said council member Annie Trinh of Jensen Tuna, who served on a task force designing the site. “The website reflects these natures with both the substance to keep sushi safe and the style that makes sushi a thriving driver of seafood consumption.”

The NFI Sushi Council is a pre-competitive stakeholder group working to enhance sushi product integrity and promote industry-led food safety. The council, aided by its website, seeks to position itself as a unified voice for the sushi marketplace. Visit NFIsushicouncil.com for more information on how to “Sushi Responsibly.”

“A renewed AboutSeafood.com will help us better align with NFI’s Strategic Plan by increasing our interactions with key audiences, improve overall functionality, and enhance the user experience,” said Lisa Wallenda Picard, NFI President and CEO. “Advances to AboutSeafood.com will continue to position NFI as the leading voice for the seafood community.”

The website will offer resources for stakeholder audiences, providing the latest information on seafood with a direct focus on combatting misinformation in the media and equipping its users with facts on seafood policy, including health and nutrition, trade and commerce, sustainability and sourcing, safety, and economic integrity.

“The work done to enhance the website is far more than a facelift, it’s a project that will help support sound public policy and nutrition information based on science by putting resources in the hands of members and boosting NFI’s already loud digital voice. This will have a lasting impact on the industry moving forward,” said Ryan Clark, CEO and President of The Town Dock and NFI Chairman.

To view NFI’s website, visit AboutSeafood.com.

NFI’s bylaws allow for a 51-person Board, with 45 at-large Directors. There is an 18-person Executive Committee drawn from the Board and six officers. NFI elects a new slate of board members annually to serve three-year terms.

“This Board is comprised of some of the most knowledgeable individuals in the seafood community,” said NFI President and CEO Lisa Wallenda Picard. “The NFI Board of Directors’ never-ending commitment to the industry will always impress me, and I’m honored to welcome these new voices and outlooks to the Board.”

The newly elected Board members as well as Executive Committee members in italics are as follow:

Lisa Webb, Gorton’s Inc. Vice President of Operations, joins the officer’s group as Treasurer and David Melbourne, President and CEO of AquaBounty Technologies, Inc., joins the officer’s group as Secretary.

Available drafts and outlines include an interest in technical assistance to help improve cold chain capacity and infrastructure, an increased awareness of the need for seafood in nutrition programs, a focus on aquaculture, and an effort to give seafood-related businesses access to much needed credit in the form of the Food Supply Chain Grant and Guaranteed Loan Program.  In addition, proposals note the need to evaluate ways to expand seafood processing in coastal communities and establish a seafood liaison at the Department of Agriculture (USDA) to improve coordination on seafood policy.

Those leading the charge to craft a responsible path forward for the next Farm Bill, like Senators Debbie Stabenow (Chairwoman) and John Boozman (Ranking Member) , along with Representatives G.T. Thompson and David Scott, illustrate a bipartisan interest in incorporating seafood into USDA’s work and programs. The US Dietary Guidelines call for a greater emphasis on this vital protein and this effort is an acknowledgment of the important work done by hundreds of thousands of men and women in the seafood value chain who help feed America.

Lisa Wallenda Picard
President & CEO

In a resolution posted on the group’s website (fishcoalition.org), they note that without a balanced approach, people starve; active fisheries management works, lines on a map don’t; and the Blue Economy is as green as it gets.

People Starve Without a Balanced Approach: A balance among conservation, sustainable use of natural resources and food security is important.

Active Fisheries Management Works, Lines on a Map Don’t: Effective fisheries management is the strongest tool to simultaneously protect ocean health while also fostering human development. Focusing solely on creating Marine Protected Areas without considering the sustainable use of marine resources and the needs of coastal communities may have detrimental effects on food security and livelihoods.

The Blue Economy is as Green as It Gets: The fishing industry is committed to being an active participant in solutions for climate change resilience. It is crucial to recognize that fisheries products, with their low carbon footprint and essential nutritional value, play a pivotal role in achieving global climate objectives.

“The Sushi Council is a total supply chain effort,” Chairman Michael McNicholas, Culimer USA LLC, said. “Our founding member list represents every facet of the raw and ready-to-eat community making a strong and broad foundation for the council to build on.”

In its inaugural year, the NFI Sushi Council has formed as a precompetitive partnership to enhance sushi product integrity and promote industry-led food safety. Coalescing during a period of tremendous growth for the seafood cuisine, the Council will develop and distribute food safety guidance tailored to sushi’s specialized supply chain.

“In just over a month, the Sushi Council has gone from 8 members to 26, a testament to the interest and relevance of our work,” said Council Executive Committee Member Daryl Gormley of Aquamar. “There are still plenty of seats at the Council table for legacy and startup sushi companies alike to assist in creating a more robust and responsible value chain.”

The Council’s founding members are a water-to-table rollcall of leading names in harvesting, processing, distribution, restaurant and retail. This select group is helping chart the course of an evolution in food safety guidance for the sushi sector.

Encouraged by the latest membership surge and to promote council participation from an even broader cross-section of the marketplace, the NFI Sushi Council has extended the window for founding membership status. Those interested in Council membership can contact NFI Sushi Council Liaison Richard Barry, rbarry@nfi.org.

Current founding members of the NFI Sushi Council include AFC, Anova, Aquamar, Bakkafrost, Blue Ocean Mariculture, Blue Sea Products, BlueNalu, Clearwater Seafoods, Culimer USA LLC, DNI Group, Eastern Fish Company, Fisher King Seafoods, F.W. Bryce, Hofseth North America, Jensen Tuna, Kura Sushi USA, Nordic Aquafarms California, Pier Fish Company, Red Shell Sushi, Sea Delight, SeaFresh Group, Shinkei Systems, Slade Gorton & Company, Tokyo Gardens Catering, True World Foods and Ultco.