Where Does Dory Come From?

By: Rick Stein, Vice President, Fresh Foods, Food Marketing Institute

My grandson is a big fan of the latest Disney movie Finding Dory. For those of you who haven’t seen the movie yet, Dory, a forgetful blue tang fish, embarks on a journey to find her family after her memory is sparked. Like most kids, the movie caused my grandson to ask a lot of questions about fish, his favorite being, “Where did they come from?”

As food retailers, we know my grandson is not the only one asking this question. Shoppers have a desire to know more about the foods they choose and the ability to access more information than ever before with a simple search. In the grocery aisle, this means more shoppers want to be able to trace a food’s origin back to the source. When it comes to seafood in particular, the 2016 U.S. Grocery Shopper Trends report finds three out of every five shoppers choose a grocery store’s private brand options when shopping for seafood and fresh meat. This means food retailers need a thoughtful approach on seafood traceability.

At this year’s Global Sustainability Summit, hosted by the Food Marketing Institute and Grocery Manufacturers Association, we’re offering special Pre-Summit Sessions specifically around seafood traceability. Trace Register, the global leader in seafood traceability, will host its third annual Traceability Leadership Forum from 8:00am to 11:30am on Wednesday, August 10, 2016 at the New Orleans Marriott in New Orleans, Louisiana. The forum is an opportunity for retailers to discuss and learn about the latest developments in traceability in the seafood supply chain. Trace Register will cover important topics like meeting regulatory compliance including the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) and the power of digital certificates in achieving stated corporate and social responsibility goals.

Here is a list of some of the speakers and topics included in the Traceability Leadership Forum:

Ryan Boudreaux, Whole Foods Market
Gary Bauer, Pontchartrain Blue Crab, Inc.
Is Implementing Digital Traceability Overwhelming? (Fact or Fiction)

Dag Heggelund, PhD., Trace Register
Peter Larkins, Trace Register
Seafood Supply Chains Meet Big Data Analytics

Ryan Stover, Whole Foods Market
George Parmenter, Delhaize America (Hannaford | Food Lion)
Variation in Seafood Supply Chains

Howard Tenen, Quirch Foods
Meeting Current and Future Regulatory Compliance with Digital Traceability

Reese Antley, Wood's Fisheries
Laura Picariello, Audubon Nature Institute
Digital Certificates for Validating Corporate and Social Responsibility

Up for a double feature? In the afternoon, the Pre-Summit Sessions will focus on seafood sustainability featuring the following speakers and topics:

Kathryn Novak, Sustainable Fisheries Partnership
Jim Cannon, Sustainable Fisheries Partnership
SFP Global View of Seafood Sustainability

Kristen Baumer, Paul Piazza & Son, Inc.
Laura Picariello, AudubonNature Institute’s Gulf United for Lasting Fisheries (G.U.L.F.)
Louisiana Private/Public Effort on Gulf Sustainability

Joe Bundrant, Trident Seafoods
Steve Vilnit, JJ McDonnell & Co., Inc.
Charlie Jameson, Eastern Fish Company
Dirk Leuenberger, Aqua Star
Supplier Efforts to Make Seafood a Responsible Choice

Be prepared to answer shopper’s questions about where their seafood comes from and boost your seafood sustainability efforts. Learn more from the Global Sustainability Summit Pre-Summit Sessions webpage.