Fresh Norwegian salmon to U.S. via boat
During the earlier days of salmon farming, Norwegians were working with the Scandinavian Airlines System (SAS) to get their product into the United States in a fresh fish format. While it worked, it still added substantially to the cost of production for the farmers, at a time when prices were often a challenge to industry sustainability. Later on, some companies even used chartered airplanes- some from Aeroflot in Russia- to get their fish to one of the fastest growing markets for fresh seafood.
Last month, an American seafood company announced an arrangement that would allow for the transportation of fresh farmed Atlantic salmon to be shipped from Norway to the U.S. with ocean freighters. According to its web site, Slade Gorton has 500 suppliers in 63 countries, and it has one of the largest seafood networks in the world; Slade Gorton is one of America’s largest importers, distributors and manufacturers of fresh, frozen and premium value-added seafood products. Founded in 1928, we are a privately held, multi-generational family business committed to feeding America with wholesome, nutritious and sustainable foods
Slade Gorton announced its relationship with Global Fresh Foods, which claim to “provide breakthrough, shelf-life extending, all-natural controlled atmosphere packaging technology and value-added services that will revolutionize fresh food supply chains worldwide” in a recent statement where the two companies told of their “first shipments of Fresh Norwegian salmon to the United States via ocean freighter in the SAF-D System”; Slade Gorton and Global Fresh Foods have completed their first shipments of fresh Norwegian salmon imported to the United States from Europe via ocean freighter. The fresh salmon was grown, harvested and processed in Norway, packaged into the SAF-D System in Europe, shipped via ocean freighter to Boston, and then distributed to US retail outlets across the United States. SAF-D (Safe and Fresh Distribution) is a patent-pending controlled atmosphere system employing a unique architecture and oxygen management technology for the all-natural extension of fresh shelf life of seafood and other proteins. Fresh fish brought from Norway to the US spent twenty-two days in the controlled atmosphere before being released from the SAF-D System at Slade Gorton's warehouse in Boston. The fish was then processed and re-packed to the specifications of retail customers and distributed through normal retail channels. Patrice Flanagan, Director of Strategic Sourcing and Fresh Seafood Development for Slade Gorton was in Boston to see the fish as it came out of the controlled environment. "The fish was beautiful." Flanagan states. "The color was the same as the day it went into the System, and had that fantastic fresh melon odor of fish freshly harvested. I was very impressed." Larry Bell, Founder and CEO of Global Fresh Foods, has been innovating with fresh foods technology throughout his career - including his development of packaging technology that launched the multi-billion dollar packaged salad industry. "The SAF-D System is the right architecture, and the right application of technology to provide the fresh foods industry with a practical commercial solution for the extension of high quality fresh shelf life for seafood and other proteins." Bell said. "We are thrilled to be working with a respected industry leader like Slade Gorton to bring the benefits of this technology and solution to the seafood industry." "We are very pleased with the results from this pilot, and look forward to implementing complete solutions in 2011." said Kim Gorton, President and CEO of Slade Gorton, "We wanted to prove that technology was viable and that we could deliver the benefits of fresh seafood via ocean freighter to our customers nationwide. This technology holds the promise to deliver a sustainable and economical supply chain solution that can fundamentally change the seafood industry." Slade Gorton & Global Fresh Foods anticipate the launch of their complete Supply Chain Solutions leveraging the SAF-D System in beginning in April of 2011.
