Seafood Product Innovation
New seafood products breathe life into the coastal economy
Locally processed seafood products are the cornerstone of Oregon's coastal economy. New products successfully introduced into the marketplace help establish new businesses, creating jobs, supporting tourism and more efficiently using precious natural resources.
Oregon Sea Grant has a long history of seafood product development, from our research and Extension aid to the coastal surimi industry to developing and promoting new methods to ensure a safe, sanitary seafood supply. Over the past four decades, we have been instrumental in:
- Helping seafood processors learn and put into practice federal standards for food sanitation and safety.
- Developing methods to decrease processing waste and water use.
- Working with the OSU Seafood Lab in Astoria, the Portland-based OSU Food Innovation Center and local producer coalitions to help seafood processors and small businesses develop new products that create jobs, support tourism, and more efficiently use precious natural resources.
Innovative packaging for seafood safety, increased value
Contact: Mark Whitham
Sea Grant Extension's Mark Whitham is working with Oregon Sea Grant and the OSU Seafood Consumer Center (???) to assist businesses in developing new products using heat to cook and seal fish in a flexible package. A pilot processing plant at the OSU Seafood Lab offers hands-on training in these retort packaging techniques. Oregon producers are now selling several new products to restaurants and through national grocery chains.
- In Coos Bay,a new cannery, Sea Fare Pacific, has invested in retort packaging equipment in consultation with Sea Grant Extension. This privately branded product is now being sold through a major Oregon grocery chain, New Seasons Markets.
- Whitham helped Oregon Seafoods develop FDA-required processing instructions for all its products. The company began in 2010 and is expected to grow to 15 employees this year.
- With Sea Grant assistance, Skipanon Brand Oregon Ocean Seafoods in Warrenton is in operation with a new, expanded retort line that will increase production and support new value-added products.
- A new cannery for The Berry Patch is near completion in Westport, Oregon.
Such Innovations in packaging and product development are adding an estimated $4.67 million a year to the coastal economy and improving the use of sustainable coastal seafood.
New markets for traditional tribal foods
Contact: Mark Whitham
Tribal-harvested fish and game are an important part of Native American culture and a source of income for tribal fishers and hunters. But improper processing and storage techniques have increasingly cost the Warm Springs tribe loss of their ceremonial foods to spoilage.
Sea Grant's Mark Whitham worked with tribal members and the Columbia River Intertribal Fish Commission to conduct food-safety workshops and training, and to develop new products. His assistance stimulated tribal interest in expanding a planned tribal seafood plant to include commercial production for off-reservation sales and custom packing for other tribe to generate new income for the tribe. Whitham helped the tribe draft a plan and budget for the proposed plant, which led to a $75,000 USDA Rural Business Enterprise Grant to develop a feasibility study and detailed business plan. In addition, Whitham is working with the Columbia River Intertribal Fisher Commission to develop smoked steelhead and salmon jerky products with superior flavor and shelf-life, which could increase revenue from $2/lb to $35/lb for a whole fish.
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