Four European partners, buoyed by investments of nearly $1 million from the Association of Genuine Alaska Pollock Producers (GAPP), are planning to launch new seafood product lines this fall and into 2021.
Craig Morris, CEO of GAPP, said that Young’s Seafood, Nomad Foods, Angulas Aguinaga and Pickenpack Seafoods, would each bring equal or greater funds to invest in the projects. They have also committed to using only U.S.-sourced wild Alaska Pollock for the duration of the program and beyond.
“These new products represent the versatility of wild Alaska Pollock and our collaboration will help consumers understand better the benefits of this amazing species,” Morris said.
Angulas Aguinaga plans to launch two new product lines in Spain utilizing wild Alaska Pollock surimi seafood including a “heat and eat” line of products and a new category of product with nutritional benefits. In the United Kingdom, Young’s Seafood will be launching a new “Chipshop Quarter Pounder” with wild Alaska Pollock, introducing the species to a whole new generation of consumers. Partnership funds from GAPP will be used to market and promote these new products to build awareness and trial.
GAPP is working with Pickenpack Seafoods to bring their new Wild Alaska Pollock Fish and Sauce and Wild Alaska Pollock Potato Topper to popular German retailers and German discount retailers.
UK-based Nomad Foods plans to conduct consumer research focused on how to position the provenance, nutritional and taste benefits of wild Alaska Pollock in markets where consumers are more familiar with other whitefish.
According to GAPP board chairman Mikel Durham, who is also CEO of American Seafoods, thousands of Europeans eat Pollock every day, often not knowing the species or understanding that Alaska has the highest standards for quality and sustainability.
“We are thrilled to invest alongside our partners to communicate those advantages in no uncertain terms,” he said. “These innovative products celebrate the sustainably wild-caught wild Alaska Pollock in all of its versatile forms.”
GAPP received over $4 million in funding requests in more than 15 different proposals. Final determinations on funding awards came in late April from the GAPP board of directors.
