| Advantages of Eating Fish for Human Health |
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Fish and shellfish as food
For thousands of years fish and shellfish have been an
important part of the human diet. And for good reasons. It is
healthy food. In this section we will take a short look at the
history and tradition of fishing and aquaculture. Then we will
look at the consumption of fish compared to meat in the world
today. And finally, we will look at important consumer trends,
and try to determine what impact these trends can have for the
consumption of fish in the future.
Short history
People have been eating fish and shellfish through the ages.
This food has always been considered to be nutritious. And
unlike meat, few taboos have been connected to it. A long time
before the birth of Christ, the Assyrians had fishponds where
they bred up to 50 different species of fish. The Romans traded
fertilized fish eggs that were used for fish farming in ponds.
Carp has been cultivated for many years. The Chinese have also
farmed fish for ages on their rice fields during the periods
the fields are under water.
Throughout history fish has been a source of power, just
like food in general. The Viking period in history has also
been called the Cod period because the Vikings traded in large
amounts of stockfish and salted, dried cod. The British control
of the oceans was founded on their experience at sea
gained through fisheries work. The English Parliament
decided at one time that the nation should have three days of
fast a week, Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays. On these days
the people should not eat meat. The demand for fish increased,
and so did the demand for fishermen. The fishermen became
skilled seamen and a resource for the English marine.
Tradition and food is also closely related. Many Christians
ate fish on Friday each week in honour of Christ's death.
Although few people today eat fish for religious reasons, the
practice has become a tradition that many still
practice.
The Japanese love their raw fish, commonly known as sushi.
This way of serving fish has become very popular in western
countries as well. But originally, storing rice and fish
together was a way of preserving the fish.
Global consumption of fish
During the past decades, per capita fish consumption has
expanded globally along with economic growth and well-being.
However, growth will not go on forever. There is a limit to how
much food - including fish - each individual will consume, and
long-term ceilings for consumption will be established. It is
clear that the limit will be reached first by wealthy
economies, and fastest in those where fish has been a staple
food since ancient times - in Japan for example.
In 1997 the average consumption of fish per person in the
world was 16 kilos. The consumption varies greatly between
different countries. There are several factors that determine
the consumption of fish and shellfish, the main factors being
the country’s own supply of these products, the economy
of the country and tradition.
It is also interesting to compare the consumption of fish to
the consumption of meat in different countries.
Annual per capita consumption of fish /shellfish and meat
for human food, 2000 (Source FAO2000)1
The FAO statistics show that the consumption of fish and
shellfish for human food varies greatly in Europe and in other
large countries such as Japan, USA and Russia. The highest
consumption per capita in Europe is in Iceland with 90,7
kilograms per year. The lowest is in Eastern European countries
such as Albania, Bosnia Herzegovina, Romania and Yugoslavia,
where the consumption is under 3,5 kilograms per capita per
year.
Annual per capita consumption of fish /shellfish and meat
for human food, 2000 (Source FAO2000)
When we look at the consumption of meat and fish on the
different continents we can see that the consumption of meat
varies more than the consumption of fish. The consumption of
meat is six times higher in North and Central America than in
Africa. The greatest difference in fish consumption is between
Oceania and Africa, being three times higher in Oceania.
Trends
In well-off developed economies - essentially OECD countries
- the image of fish is changing2 . It is moving away
from being the basic food it once was and is becoming a
culinary speciality. There are two main reasons for this: the
vast majority of the population in these countries has the
means to purchase adequate food and retailers are realizing
that, to attract consumers, they have to sell a product that is
more than just a basic foodstuff. Marketing campaigns launched
for some fish products tend to affirm that the consumption of
fish is an appropriate means of satisfying the consumer's need
for variety and for nutritious, tasty, healthy and fashionable
foods. The retailing of fish in these countries is no longer a
question of satisfying a hungry consumer at a competitive
price.
In the developing countries, fish is still very much an
essential food. It contributes an important part of the animal
protein in many people's diets. In the mid-1990s, fish provided
more than 50 percent of the animal protein for the populations
of 34 countries. Several Asian and some African countries fell
into this category.
There seems to be no way of telling with any precision at
what level fish consumption in a particular country is likely
to stabilize, but it would appear reasonable to assume that,
for most countries, the figure would fall somewhere in the
range of 20 to 40 kg/capita/yearii.
There are trends in the modern consumer’s demands in
the developed countries that point towards increasing
consumption of fish and seafood. These trends are:
Demand for health: Consumers throughout the world are
increasingly focusing on whether those foodstuffs they eat are
healthy or not. More and more consumers acknowledge that there
is a connection between diet and health, and that the western
world’s welfare diseases often stem from poor nutrition.
Health is associated with a high vitamin and mineral content,
low fat content, natural or organic origins, a high content of
nutrition-rich elements and moreover a number of more symbolic
values which signal a healthy lifestyle. Here, fish has a good
starting point: It is healthy.
Demand for quality: Quality is a keyword for the
modern consumer. This is also true among fish producers. But
the two groups’ definitions of quality are different. To
the producer, quality is about control and regulation in the
process as well as safety in the production process. To the
consumer, the term quality covers much more. Safety and
efficient processes are taken for granted by the consumer,
whilst quality is something extra. It relates to taste,
appearance, freshness, naturalness, luxury, joy and experience.
In other words, subjective quality parameters which are much
more difficult to control but are in fact those that are
demanded. Contemporary consumers want more without paying more.
Again, fish has a good starting point. Fish can definitely be
marketed as a luxury and quality product.
Demand for safety: Safety within foodstuffs is one of
the greatest worries among European consumers. Consumers have
become well-aware that there is a health risk connected with
that which we put into our mouths, and that as such, one has to
be alert. Cases from recent years such as mad cow’s
disease, salmonella and listeria have focused attention, and
consumers have shown that they are prepared to boycott
foodstuffs that are seen as unsafe. Most of the largest
problems have been in connection with meat products, in other
words, pork, beef and poultry. Once again fish has a good
starting point for exploiting a contemporary trend. Leaving
shellfish apart, fish is an extremely safe product.
Demand for convenience: Traditional eating habits are
on the defensive. Today, food has to be both fast and easy.
This is a general tendency that can also be seen through the
fact that more and more meals are eaten out. This development
is clearly positive for both frozen TV dinners and for external
catering. This is however less positive for fresh fish, which
is viewed by many as a slow and inconvenient product. This
makes demands on the future marketing of fish, to find a
balance: Aside from being of high quality, healthy and safe,
fish should also be easy to buy and eat. However, these
features often appear as opposites in the consumer’s
world.
Demand for natural unspoilt products: Consumers are
increasingly demanding natural foodstuffs, in other words,
goods that contain no medicine residue, haven’t been
genetically manipulated or contain too many additives.
Consumers flock to natural organic products and for "farm
shops". In contrast, there is increasing criticism of those
products that have been manipulated. Greatly industrialised
agricultural production is today deemed the sinner for the fact
that the safety and quality of foodstuffs is on the decline.
Once again, fish has a good starting point. Fish is by
definition organic in that it is brought up from the sea. Fish
is wild. But for how long? When the consumer realises that it
is not just pigs that contain antibiotic traces, but that they
are also found in farmed salmon, then a strong reaction can be
expected.
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