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Issue link: https://seafoodbusiness.epubxp.com/i/72022
News Recap WASHINGTON, D.C. In BRIEF Uniontown, Ala.-based catfi sh supplier Harvest Select partnered with breading maker Louisiana Fish Fry of Baton Rouge, La., to roll out a co-branded catfi sh fi llet. The hand-trimmed, ready-to-cook, 1- and 2-ounce strips are available in 1.5-pound retail packages. After opening three restaurants in the Philadelphia and Cleveland markets, Ground Round signed deals to open nine more in New Jersey, Wisconsin and Minnesota. The Freeport, Maine-based chain expects the locations to open within the next three to fi ve years. Independently owned distributor Reinhart Foodservice of Rosemont, Ill., named Trident Seafoods of Seattle its 2012 Supplier of the Year for seafood. Suppliers in 12 categories were recognized for commitment to quality, food safety and innovation. New Orleans mainstay Deanie's Seafood, known for its huge portions of boiled, broiled and fried Louisiana seafood, is celebrating its 30th anniversary. The Chifci family operates two restaurants, a seafood shop and an online retail market that employs more than 300. Harbor Seafood of New Hyde Park, N.Y., inked a marketing agreement with BJ Trading & Marketing of Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, for the sale and purchase of Canadian seafood products throughout the United States, Europe and Asia. All sales and purchasing will be carried out by Harbor Seafood. Hannaford Supermarkets says it is the "fi rst and only" major grocery chain to implement "the broadest sustainable seafood policy" in the United States. All of its wild products are from fi sheries under scientifi cally based management plans and its farmed products cause no harm to communities, workers, the environment or human health. Blue Ocean Mariculture harvested its Hawaiian Kampachi in May and the fi sh is now available. The company fi nalized the acquisition of Kona Blue Water Farms in June, completing a two-year transition for Blue Ocean to become the exclusive kampachi producers. Seattle Fish Co. of Denver, Santa Monica Seafood of Santa Monica, Calif., Euclid Fish Co. of Cleveland and Fortune Fish Co. of Chicago all struck marketing deals to distribute Skuna Bay Salmon, operated by Grieg Seafood of Bergen, Norway, on Vancouver Island, British Columbia. Direct QUOTE I love a great steak and free-range chicken but nobody is risking their lives bringing those products to market. — Jim Ulcickas, proprietor, Bluewater Grill (see Top Story, page 20) 6 SeaFood Business July 2012 Senators cross aisle to kill USDA-catfi sh inspection program U .S. Sens. John McCain of Ari- zona and John Kerry of Massa- chusetts fi led an amendment to the 2012 Farm Bill that would kill a law transferring regulation of imported catfi sh from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). T e Government Ac- countability Offi ce on the following day urged Con- gress to repeal the law that would shift inspection au- thority to USDA, the third time that GAO questioned the necessity of the move. T e Senate passed the amendment on June 19. T e Farm Bill sets the United States' nutrition and agriculture policy for the next fi ve years. T e previous Farm Bill, enacted in 2008, included a provision that gave USDA authority to inspect im- ported and domestic catfi sh, but the measure wasn't implemented. T e 2012 Farm Bill would override the 2008 Farm Bill, so it's expected that the FDA, the agency responsible for monitoring the U.S. food supply, will retain catfi sh duties. Support for doing so is building. In late April, 17 U.S. senators, in- cluding McCain and Kerry, signed a letter to Debbie Stabenow, chair of the senate's Committee on Ag- riculture, Nutrition and Forestry, urging her to repeal the law giving the USDA the authority to inspect Snap SHOTS Down the hatch: Grand Central Oyster Bar GM Jonathan Young and Executive Chef Sandy Ingber kicked off the New York City restaurant's 32nd annual Holland Herring Festival on June 6 by sampling the Netherlands' renowned delicacy (North Sea herring, or Nieuwe maatjes). Mayor Michael Bloomberg, in a letter to the restaurant, said, "We look forward to New Yorkers and our visitors enjoying 'the silver of the sea' — and the cream of the catch as well — here at one of our city's most storied restaurants." For updated NEWS, go to www.SeafoodSource.com catfi sh. T ey argued that the USDA catfi sh inspection program would "simply supplant the existing FDA [Hazard Analysis Critical Control Points] seafood regulatory scheme." In its report, GAO said a switch would "further divide responsibility for overseeing seafood safety and in- troduce overlap at consider- able cost," estimated at $30 million. FDA spends less than $700,000 annually to inspect catfi sh facilities, GAO says. "Cost cutters on the Hill who have been looking to root out waste and protect American jobs have thrown down the gauntlet with this," says National Fish- eries Institute spokesman Gavin Gibbons. "If you're sick of wasteful handouts you support repeal." U.S. catfi sh and pangasius import- ers say the USDA program would slow the fl ow of product into the U.S. market, but it's unclear whether the catfi sh-like pangasius would be in- cluded in the program. T ey contend it's a protectionist measure for the domestic catfi sh farmers and proces- sors, not a safeguard to public health. T e U.S. catfi sh industry argues their competitors overseas should be subject to the same scrutiny as they are. T e USDA catfi sh inspection program is backed by T e Catfi sh Institute and several Southern legis- lators. — Steven Hedlund currently Photo by Jerry Milani