Scotland Food & Drink chair puts Scottish seafood in spotlight
Speaking to international buyers at the world’s largest seafood show, European Seafood Exposition, in Brussels , Ray Jones said:
“As Scotland’s largest food export, seafood is vitally important to our ambitions to grow the value of food and drink from £10bn to £17.5bn.
“Scotland is world renowned for the quality of its fantastic seafood and ESE provides the ideal platform to showcase some of our finest products to major international buyers.”
Scott Landsburgh, chief executive of Scottish Salmon Producers’ Organisation, said: “Scottish salmon is in high demand at home and overseas as it is healthy, nutritious and sustainable.The value of fresh, frozen and smoked salmon exports reached a new record in 2010. Sales topped £385m, an increase of 35 per cent on last year.
“The sector is out in force at ESE and early reports suggest the high demand will continue.”
Iain MacSween, chairman of Seafood Scotland, which is hosting a seafood bar at the expo, commented on the increasing role that sustainability has to play in food security.
“Our fishing sector is embracing a number of new and innovative techniques to ensure that Scottish fisheries remain sustainable into the future and we are pleased that so much interest is being shown at ESE in our high quality products.”
Kevin MacGillivray, head chef of Barcelo Troon Marine Hotel is spending the week cooking on the seafood bar. “We are providing around 20,000 portions of Scottish seafood for highly appreciative visitors” he said. “Enabling people to taste the products is an excellent way to encourage trade.”
