Blue Horizon Rides the Organic Seafood Wave
APTOS, Calif., March 30 /PRNewswire/ — The crowd that gathered earlier this month around the Blue Horizon Organic Seafood Co. booth during the preeminent natural foods trade show Expo West wasn’t hovering to ogle a catchy gimmick. It was genuine enthusiasm to learn more about the next wave in seafood: Organically raised, sustainable seafood products. Blue Horizon Organic Seafood is putting a new face on “farmed” seafood, one that will have delicious, safe, and environmentally friendly impacts, all within reach for the everyday consumer.
Blue Horizon Organic Seafood Company, led by two pioneers in organic foods, Tim Redmond and John Battendieri, is carving out the category of organically raised seafood by tapping into the most advanced, eco-friendly sources in aquaculture. Already the company has secured key specialty and natural supermarket placements nationwide for its branded skillet meals, breaded shrimp products, Last Minute Chef frozen line of microwaveable entrees and appetizers, and other responsibly sourced shrimp, fin fish and related food products.
“There is a relative lack of organic seafood in the organic foods industry,” said Redmond, company president, who turned his talents from “land food” to seafood two years ago. “Combine this market void with an opportunity to be a ‘food shepherd’ to better the planet in how food sources are derived and we see a win-win for everyone.”
Over-fishing, environmental damage, and seafood safety are coming under public scrutiny through the efforts of many environmental groups and trade groups such as the Marine Stewardship Council. Blue Horizon Organic Seafood Company is stepping forward to provide food solutions, and plans to be a major domestic source for both value-added prepared and raw organic seafood. It utilizes sustainable seafood farming partners which strictly comply with conservation policies and provide a new top tier model for the emerging trend of organic seafood farming (using no growth hormones, antibiotics, or artificial colorings). Stricter controls are placed on organic aquaculture when compared to conventional aquaculture or fishing wild stocks; controls include water quality, density of populations, type of feed — limiting amounts of wild fish meal and oil from plentiful and safe supplies, etc). The practices are intended to make farmed organic seafood the healthiest, safest choice in seafood available.
The United States Department of Agriculture has yet to certify seafood as organic, but is in the planning stages to create a certification process, dialogue in which Blue Horizon founders have participated to help define standards. California, the state in which Blue Horizon is based, has outlawed labeling of seafood as organic. Currently, organic seafood companies here and abroad look to respected European programs such as Naturland to certify their products as organic. Some domestic retailers won’t sell seafood labeled as organic until USDA standards are in place, anticipated for 2008.
Battendieri and Redmond, Blue Horizon founders, are best known for building natural and organic food brands, collectively among them Mr. Natural’s Juices, Santa Cruz Organics, Organic Food Products (including Millina’s Finest organic pasta sauces and salsas), Eden Foods, Inc., originator of Edensoy Soymilk, and VRUIT juice blends.
Blue Horizon was founded in 2005 to build a branded, consumer-driven seafood business to supply sustainable, wild-caught and organic seafood products to North America, while simultaneously helping protect the health of aquatic ecosystems. Learn more at http://www.bluehorizonseafood.com/.
Blue Horizon
CONTACT: Jaap Langenberg of Blue Horizon, +1-510-295-9880,jaapl@bluehorizonseafood.com, or Nicole Pietromonaco, +1-206-838-8977,nicolep@tamarawilson.com, for Blue Horizon