The aim of this study was to explore United States (U.S.) seafood consumption patterns, food sourcing, expenditures, and geography of consumption. We analyzed seafood intake and food sourcing using ...the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) cycles 2007-2008 to 2015-2016 for US adults ≥19 years old (
= 26,743 total respondents;
= 4957 respondents consumed seafood in the past 24 h). Seafood expenditures were extrapolated by combining NHANES with three other public datasets. U.S. adults consumed 63% of seafood (by weight) at home. The top sources of seafood (by weight) were food retail (56%), restaurants (31%), and caught by the respondent or someone they know (5%). Sixty-five percent of consumer expenditures for seafood were at restaurants and other "away from home" sources while 35% were at retail and other "at home" sources. Slightly less than half of overall U.S. food expenditures are "away from home," which is much lower than for seafood, suggesting that consumers have very different spending habits for seafood than for an aggregate of all foods.
The COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent lockdowns are creating health and economic crises that threaten food and nutrition security. The seafood sector provides important sources of nutrition and ...employment, especially in low-income countries, and is highly globalized allowing shocks to propagate. We studied COVID-19-related disruptions, impacts, and responses to the seafood sector from January through May 2020, using a food system resilience ‘action cycle’ framework as a guide. We find that some supply chains, market segments, companies, small-scale actors and civil society have shown initial signs of greater resilience than others. COVID-19 has also highlighted the vulnerability of certain groups working in- or dependent on the seafood sector. We discuss early coping and adaptive responses combined with lessons from past shocks that could be considered when building resilience in the sector. We end with strategic research needs to support learning from COVID-19 impacts and responses.
•We studied COVID-19 related disruptions, impacts, and responses to the seafood sector•COVID-19 is showing the vulnerability of groups that work in- or dependent on the seafood sector•Current responses combined with lessons from past shocks can help building resilience•Strategic research is needs to support learning from COVID-19 impacts and responses
The 2020 US Dietary Guidelines for Americans recommend that the US population consume more seafood. Most analyses of seafood consumption ignore heterogeneity in consumption patterns by species, ...nutritional content, production methods, and price, which have implications for applying recommendations.
We assessed seafood intake among adults by socioeconomic and demographic groups, as well as the cost of seafood at retail to identify affordable and nutritious options.
NHANES 2011–2018 dietary data (n = 17,559 total, n = 3285 eating seafood) were used to assess adult (≥20 y) intake of seafood in relation to income and race/ethnicity. Multivariable linear regression assessed the association between seafood consumption and income, adjusted for age, sex, and race/ethnicity, and the association between nutrients and seafood price, using Nielsen 2017–2019 retail sales data, adjusted for sales volume.
Low-income groups consume slightly less seafood than high-income groups low income: mean 120.2 (95% CI: 103.5, 137.2) g/wk; high income: 141.8 (119.1, 164.1) g/wk but substantially less seafood that is high in long-chain n–3 (ω-3) PUFAs lower income: 21.3 (17.3, 25.5) g/wk; higher income: 46.8 (35.4, 57.8) g/wk. Intake rates, species, and production method choices varied by race/ethnicity groups and within race/ethnicity groups by income. Retail seafood as a whole costs more than other protein foods (e.g., meat, poultry, eggs, beans), and fresh seafood high in n–3 PUFAs costs more (P < 0.002) than fresh seafood low in n–3 PUFAs. Retail seafood is available in a wide range of price points and product forms, and some lower-cost fish and shellfish were high in n–3 PUFAs, calcium, iron, selenium, and vitamins B-12 and D.
New insights into the relation between seafood affordability and consumption patterns among income and ethnicity groups suggest that specific policies and interventions may be needed to enhance the consumption of seafood by different groups.
Seafood has a nutritional profile that can be beneficial to human health, which gives it a role to play in healthy diets. In addition, because its production and harvesting can have fewer ...environmental impacts than some forms of animal protein, it can contribute to sustainable diets. However, the positive health and environmental outcomes are not guaranteed—they depend on how seafood is prepared and served and whether it is sourced from sustainable fisheries and aquaculture industries.
We examined the availability and nutritional attributes of seafood meals at chain restaurants in the United States. We assessed nutritional attributes by store type and geography. We also assessed menu labeling for species, production methods, and origin.
The study population was 159 chain restaurants with 100,948 branch locations in the United States. Data were harvested from online restaurant menus, and the nutritional profile of seafood meals was calculated.
The average seafood menu item provides up to 49–61% of the total daily limit of saturated fat, 65% of the total daily limit of sodium, and 58–71% of total daily protein requirement for adult men and women. Restaurant chains located in the Deep South and Ohio River Valley, and casual dining chains nationally, carry seafood meals with more total calories and saturated fat per 100 g than other regions or chain types. Most menu items did not list origin or production methods, which is information that would help consumers make informed decisions.
The added ingredients and cooking methods used at chain restaurants can attenuate the health benefits of seafood. We recommend reformulating menus to reduce portion sizes, total calories, added fat, and sodium content per meal and to improve consumer-facing information about origin and production methods.
The COVID-19 pandemic created an unprecedented shock to capture fisheries and aquaculture sectors. This scoping review of 670 articles explored the spatial, temporal, and thematic coverage of this ...event. The search period was January 1, 2020 to February 7, 2022. Articles were mainly peer-reviewed journals (88%) with the remainder from the gray literature (12%). Studies were performed at the global (21%), multi-country (11%), national (45%), and sub-national (23%) levels. Most studies involved primary or secondary data collection (71%) and the remainder were either review articles (17%) or commentaries (12%). Among the studies using primary and secondary data, nearly half (49%) were performed in the first five months of the pandemic (March to July 2020), and 84% within the first year of the pandemic (March 2020-February 2021). There were many studies in South and Southeast Asia, Southern Europe, China, and the United States, and fewer studies in other regions. The pandemic created challenges and opportunities, with heterogeneity in impacts among industrial and small-scale sectors, production methods, geographies, value chains, and by gender. Cumulative impacts from climate change and conflicts contributed to pandemic-related hardships. Increased unemployment and inflation led to rising food insecurity for small-scale producers, fishworkers, and low-income households. Aquatic food intake was more severely affected than other food groups during lockdowns, and it decreased more in low- and middle-income countries than in high-income countries. Responses were diverse, reflecting the capacity and resources of a country, but in general there was unprecedented public support to sustain the private sector (i.e., income support, tax relief, subsidies). As this study focused mainly on the first year of the pandemic, future work is needed to identify which groups exited the pandemic stronger or weaker, what factors enabled some populations to bounce-back, how the crisis affected value chains, and the effectiveness of interventions.
Seasonality is a natural feature of wild caught fisheries that introduces variation in food supply, and which often is amplified by fisheries management systems. Seasonal timing of landings patterns ...and linkages to consumption patterns can have a potentially strong impact on income for coastal communities as well as import patterns. This study characterizes the relationship between seasonality in seafood production and consumption in the United States by analyzing monthly domestic fisheries landings and imports and retail sales of farmed and wild seafood from 2017 to 2019. Analyses were conducted for total seafood sales, by product form, by species group, and by region of the United States. The data reveal strong seasonal increases in consumption around December and March. Seasonal increases in consumption in Spring and Summer occurred in parallel with domestic fishing production. Domestic landings vary by region, but most regions have peak fishing seasons between May and October. Alaska has the largest commercial fishery in the United States and seasonal peaks in Alaska (July/August, February/March) strongly influence seasonality in national landings. Misalignment between domestic production and consumption in some seasons and species groups creates opportunities for imports to supplement demand and lost opportunities for domestic producers.
Food loss and waste (FLW) is a major challenge to food system sustainability, including aquatic foods. We investigated aquatic FLW in the food supply of the United States, the largest importer of ...aquatic food globally, using primary and secondary data and life cycle methodology. We show that there are significant differences in FLW among species, production technology, origin and stage of supply chain. We estimate total aquatic FLW was 22.7%, which is 43-55% lower than earlier estimates reported in the literature, illustrating the importance of applying a disaggregated approach. Production losses associated with imported food contribute over a quarter of total FLW, and addressing these losses requires multinational efforts to implement interventions along the supply chain. These findings inform prioritization of solutions-including areas of need for innovations, government incentives, policy change, infrastructure and equity.
Introduction
The food-energy-water (FEW) nexus highlights the interdependencies between the systems that people rely on for these essential resources. For example, globally, over two thirds of ...freshwater withdrawals are used to produce food, and another 10% is used during energy generation. In addition, the food system uses one eighth of global net energy. Seafood is a nutritionally important food, and it is critical to use freshwater and energy resources efficiently throughout seafood supply chains to safeguard future supplies and to reduce environmental impacts. Diverse seafood production methods result in highly variable resource use across supply chains, which may contribute to siloed efforts within supply chains to improve efficiency, instead of larger efforts that involve multiple seafood supply chains. Additionally, efforts to develop and implement efficiency strategies must be informed by fishers, aquaculturists, processors, and other seafood supply chain actors to avoid investing time and resources into strategies that will have low uptake. A significant proportion of seafood is imported into the U.S., so engaging with industry and stakeholders in the U.S. and abroad is critical for understanding and improving the FEW nexus associated with seafood consumed by Americans.
Methods
To understand how resources are being used, current and potential strategies to improve resource use, and relevant motivations and barriers, we conducted 47 semi-structured interviews from 2019 to 2021 with seafood supply chain actors, including producers and processors. Seafood supply chains included were farmed catfish produced in the U.S., farmed pangasius and shrimp produced in Vietnam, farmed Atlantic salmon produced in Norway, and wild-caught sockeye and pink salmon caught in the U.S.
Results
We provide detailed descriptions of stages within each supply chain regarding resource use and efficiency strategies, and report higher-level findings that apply across supply chains. There was variation across settings regarding how resources are used and opportunities and barriers for improving efficiencies, but we also found commonalities in settings, indicating that resource-saving strategies or innovations could lead to increased efficiency across multiple supply chains. Interviewees shared that cost savings drove past adoption of, and high interest in, energy conservation practices. Generally, direct costs did not motivate reduced use of freshwater, but associated costs like energy to run pumps and supplies to treat contaminated surface water drove interest in reducing water use.
Discussion
Efforts to improve resource use in the U.S. seafood supply should focus on identifying and scaling-up strategies that (i) involve improved efficiency of more than one resource and/or (ii) apply across multiple settings. This work should involve partnerships between industry, government agencies, and academic researchers, and should be informed by supply chain actors’ experiences and insights. The qualitative insights from this study encompass rich descriptions of FEW-relevant factors at the level of specific supply chain stages as well as findings across six major seafood supply chains in three countries. The study provides an essential complement to existing quantitative characterizations of resource use, and enables nuanced and informed responses to challenges.
Fishmeal and fish oil (FMFO) have historically come from capture fisheries, although supply from capture fisheries is constrained and demand for FMFO is increasing. Fish production losses and ...by-products are an alternative raw material for FMFO, however, there is little systematic data collected on the use of these raw materials and limited knowledge about barriers to their use in FMFO production. This study collected data on production losses and by-products from seven fisheries and aquaculture sectors that are important in supplying the US seafood market. From 2019–2021, quantitative surveys (n=47 businesses), semi-structured qualitative interviews (n=31 businesses), and secondary data were collected for the study period of 2014–2018. There was significant variation in utilization of production losses and by-products across sectors (range: 37–99 %), and overall, the aggregate utilization rate was 72 %. Scale appeared to be the most important factor leading to use of production losses and by-products. Aquaculture industries in this study had a large and relatively steady supply of by-products year-round, which made investments in FMFO plants worthwhile and led to moderate to high rates of by-product utilization. Wild-caught fisheries in this study had lower rendering rates due to short fishing seasons, smaller scales, operations in remote locations, and regulations that allow dumping of by-products. There were several examples of companies that invested in rendering plants because it was profitable to sell the rendered waste, while other sectors and industries require better coordination and policy supports to make use of this valuable resource.
•This study analyzed by-products from 7 industrialized fisheries and aquaculture sectors.•On average 72 % of by-products were rendered with wide variation among sectors.•Aquaculture used a higher proportion of by-products compared to fisheries.•Scale of operation was an important factor in explaining by-product utilization.
Risks shift along seafood supply chains Love, David C.; Nussbaumer, Elizabeth M.; Harding, Jamie ...
Global food security,
March 2021, 2021-03-00, Volume:
28
Journal Article
Open access
Seafood is a highly traded commodity and 71% of the United States (U.S.) supply is imported. This study addresses questions about imported seafood safety and compares risks of outbreaks and recalls ...across countries of origin, species, and stages of the supply chain. We found that where seafood comes from does not play a major role in risk. Risk is a function of the activities happening at each stage of the supply chain, inherent riskiness of some products or processes, and “pass through” risks introduced at upstream and midstream stages of the supply chain. Dominant farmed species (shrimp, tilapia, catfish) became less risky as they move along the supply chain toward consumers. We recommend investments in agencies overseeing food safety and health, enhanced traceability within supply chains, and more open government datasets that support systems-level analyses.
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•U.S. consumers are skeptical of the food safety of imported seafood.•Risks shift as seafood products move along the supply chain.•Several popular imported products become less risky as they move along the supply chain.•Traceability enhancements are key to better monitoring product flows and risk.
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