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Issue link: https://seafoodbusiness.epubxp.com/i/84786
News Recap WASHINGTON, D.C. In BRIEF Sysco Corp. of Houston acquired Louisiana Foods, a seafood and distribution business also based in Houston. Sysco plans to keep all of Louisiana Foods' 95 employees and its two local locations in downtown Houston and Stafford. The acquisition will also expand the distribution reach of Louisiana Foods, which was founded in 1972. Sysco plans to increase the company's distribution of fresh fish and prepared gumbo throughout Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas and Louisiana. Peruvian investor group Conpepac acquired Centromar Pesquera, the Ecuadorian fishing business of Camanchaca, for $15.5 million. Camanchaca CEO Richard Garcia says the sale is part of a strategic objective to focus on business development involving salmon and mackerel products. New Bedford, Mass.-based Marder Trawling launched a subsidiary company, Total Seafood Packaging, in a processing plant that opened in April. The facility is SSOP, HACCP and SQF Level 3 certified and is also on its way to being British Retail Consortium certified under the Global Food Safety Initiative. A custom Facebook app helps customers find Bristol Bay sockeye salmon in their neighborhoods. The Bristol Bay Regional Seafood Development Association's advertising and PR agency, Schiedermayer Alaska, worked with Schied4 to develop "Sockeye Finder," which directs consumers to restaurants and retailers that carry the fish. The Louisiana Seafood Promotion & Marketing Board approved a marketing partnership with the National Football League's New Orleans Saints. The proposal for the 2012 season will make Louisiana Seafood the official seafood for the New Orleans Saints and the Mercedes-Benz Superdome. Stolt Sea Farms acquired Acuidoro, a turbot farm in northern Spain. The transaction includes Alrogal S.A., a wholly owned subsidiary that operates a hatchery adjacent to the Acuidoro farm, which SSF will transition to production of juvenile sole. Financial terms were not disclosed. President Pablo Garcis says the deal could double the company's turnover by 2016. Direct QUOTE In the old days fishermen got paid more for chilled fish. What some would do was turn on the chiller when they came in to deliver. That's kind of cute, but let's face it, it doesn't help the industry or the fishermen. Everybody needs to pull equally and so we have to hold fishermen accountable. — Mark Buckley, president, Digital Observer (see Special Feature, page 38) 6 SeaFood Business October 2012 U.S. speeds up organic aquaculture timetable T he United States' rule-making process for organic aquacul- ture production and certification will happen a lot sooner than just recently anticipated. According to a representative at the U.S. Department of Agricul- ture (USDA) Agricultural Market- ing Service, proposed rules for or- ganic aquaculture should be ready for public comment in early 2013. Miles McEvoy, deputy administra- tor of the National Organic Pro- gram, issued a memorandum in May that stated the process would take two years. Tis development bodes well for the seafood industry. Te or- ganic food and beverage market in the United States was worth $24.8 billion in 2009 (3.7 percent of total U.S. food sales), according to the Organic Trade Association. Seafood remains the only protein category without access to federal organic standards and the coveted USDA Organic label. McEvoy had asked the National Organic Standards Board (NOSB) to review a list of substances to be added to the National List of Al- lowed and Prohibited Substances for use in organic aquaculture, and to see whether the substances are compliant with the Organic Foods Production Act. Tat pro- cess will not take as long as previ- ously believed. Once the NOSB makes its rec- ommendations, the rule-making process offers opportunities the public to comment and for for Snap SHOTS Open wide: On Sept. 1, Handy International of Salisbury, Md., successfully topped its own world-record largest crab cake by 47 pounds with a 3-foot wide, 300-pound treat that took 9 hours to cook (official recognition from Guinness World Records could take up to six weeks). Volunteers and Handy employees then served 584 sandwich portions to those who wanted to taste history. The charitable event at the Maryland State Fairgrounds raised $3,127 for the Maryland 4-H Foundation. For updated NEWS, go to www.SeafoodSource.com other federal agencies — such as the National Oceanic and Atmo- spheric Administration, the Food and Drug Administration and the Environmental Protection Agency — to make modifications. Tat process could take several months or longer. NOSB recom- mendations for an organic aqua- culture rule proposal were origi- nally expected sometime in 2007, but the issue has been set on the back burner. It is expected that the produc- tion and use of fishmeal for fish feed will be one of the major issues during the public comment phase. Wild forage fisheries — such as an- chovies, mackerel and even pollock — are the primary component of fishmeal, so that raises a key stick- ing point. "Organic" is a process claim, not a product claim: It's all about input, output and impact and there is no clear way to deem a wild product organic. Existing U.S. rules do not al- low any seafood to bear the cov- eted "USDA Organic" label due to the lack of standards for organic aquaculture production and cer- tification, though some seafood products are labeled as organic because they've been certified by a third-party outfit such as Natürland in Germany. Te state of California, however, does not allow any seafood to be marketed as organic in lieu of USDA Organ- ic standards; it remains the only state to have passed such a law. — James Wright Photo courtesy of Handy International