Organic ignorance revealed

As a part of the OrAqua EU project, a survey of consumers’ perceptions and understanding of organic aquaculture has been conducted on 500 respondents from each of the largest markets for organic seafood in Europe – France, Germany, Great Britain and Italy.

Organic aquaculture makes up a very small share of all fish farming. And there are also very few statistics on production, the Nofima researchers say. They calculate that only 20,000 tonnes (ie 1.4%) of Europe’s combined salmon production of 1.4 million tonnes is organic.

Work on the consumer survey was headed by Nofima, where Themis Altintzoglou and Pirjo Honkanen played key roles.

“Organic aquaculture is nothing new, but has only relatively recently been subject to specific regulation at the EU level. When we reveal the consumers’ ideas of organic fish, we can see that they’re not in line with the regulations,” Honkanen says

One of the most important discoveries in the survey is that consumers are very unsure of what organic fish is.

“There are very few who are aware of the official EU organic label, “Euro Leaf”. The label was launched to make it easier for consumers to find organic products, but few are aware of what the symbol signifies,” Honkanen says.

Attitudes towards organic fish: conclusions

• All countries in the survey believed that natural living conditions and the absence of harmful chemicals were the two key factors that define “organic”.
• Good water quality and the absence of medication and hormones were also high on the list among all.
• Germany differed from the other countries by having greater focus on fish welfare on average. These consumers were more concerned with a humane slaughter process than consumers in Great Britain, Italy and France.
• Consumers have little knowledge of the production of fish in general, which makes them more receptive to negative media stories on feed, fish density and environmental impact.
• Organic fish farmers have as high a score as independent certification companies in terms of consumer confidence. Although confidence isn’t initially very high, this separates organic aquaculture from the experience in other food production, where producers have lower confidence among consumers due to various negative incidents.
• The consumers’ lack of knowledge on aquaculture in general and organic aquaculture in particular, indicates that one should focus on impartial and factual communication to consumers where one emphasizes the utility value to the consumer and the environment.
• To develop the market further, one also needs to develop and test a broader selection of products in the shops.