Oser Communications Group

GOURMET NEWS DECEMBER 2014 www.gourmetnews.com GENERAL NEWS 8 With Russian Fisheries Naming Product "Alaska Pollock," U.S. Lawmakers Urge Clarity in Labeling Alaska's Congressional Delegation and their colleagues from Washington State are pushing the Food and Drug Administration to change the market name for pollock and clearly differentiate it from inferior fish har- vested in Russia. Supporting a request by the Genuine Alaska Pollock Producers, a bipartisan group of lawmakers wrote a let- ter to the Food and Drug Administration seeking to change the legal market name from "Alaska pollock" to "pollock" in an ef- fort to differentiate American-caught seafood from the 113 million pounds of Russian-harvested pollock bought by Americans in 2012. Beyond a matter of commercial concern, the lawmakers stressed that the terminol- ogy is causing confusion about the origins of the fish, writing in their letter that "pol- lock harvested in Alaskan waters is of a higher quality and is managed more sus- tainably than other pollock, especially Russian pollock." Senators Lisa Murkowski and Mark Be- gich and Congressman Don Young ex- plained their reasoning in the letter. Among their points, the lawmakers ar- gued that the use of "Alaska pollock" as an acceptable market name is misleading to consumers; that "Alaska pollock" is understood to suggest a geographic ori- gin; and that U.S. government programs support other efforts to provide accurate information and differentiate food prod- ucts in the marketplace. Approximately 30-40 percent of the more than 300 million pounds of pollock sold in the United States each year is har- vested from Russia but legally marketed as "Alaska pollock." In 2012, Americans con- sumed 1.17 pounds of pollock per person, or a total of 362 million pounds. Of this, 113 million pounds came from Russia but was sold as "Alaska pollock." According to an August 2014 GAPP survey, 77 percent of respondents assumed that seafood la- beled as "Alaska pollock" was harvested in Alaska, and 81 percent said they would have felt misled if they purchased "Alaska pollock" and found that it was harvested elsewhere. Making matter worse for many socially and environmentally conscious consumers is the fact that Russian pollock is much less sustainable than true Alaskan pollock. Sus- tainability is an increasingly important driver influencing the purchasing habits of retailers and consumers alike. "Pollock harvested from Alaskan waters is of the highest quality and taste. It is sus- tainably managed to ensure that the re- source will be there in the future for the fishermen, processors and coastal commu- nities that depend on it," said Murkowski. "This Administration should act to counter Russia's recent actions to harm Alaska's seafood industry, and the FDA should take action promptly to make it easier for con- sumers to tell good Alaska pollock from in- ferior Russian product." "Alaska has set the global standard for re- sponsible and sustainable fisheries manage- ment, and we should not let Russian fishermen capitalize on Alaska's brand," added Begich. "Americans shouldn't be misled by false advertising. We deserve to know where the food on our dinner tables comes from. The Alaska delegation will continue to work closely together to make sure we protect Alaska's brand and Ameri- can consumers from false advertising by Russian fishermen." "This clarification makes a significant difference for our Alaskan Pollock fish- ery, the 2.5 billion pounds they sustain- ably harvest each year and the everyday American consumer," said Young. "It's a very simple solution to a 100 million pound problem. Otherwise, Russian- caught Pollock will continue to be passed off as Alaskan due to a confusing market name." GN California's Paso Robles Wine Country Fine-Tuned to Offer 11 New Viticultural Areas The United States Department of the Treasury recently published its final ruling, establishing 11 new viticultural areas within the greater Paso Robles American Viticultural Area. This announcement concludes a seven-year process spearheaded by a dedicated group of Paso Robles vintners and winegrape growers who created a unified approach to develop a comprehensive master plan for the greater Paso Robles American Viticultural Area. These new AVAs are based on meso-cli- mactic, geological and historical informa- tion, which highlights each individual district to be unique as a winegrape growing area. The 11 AVAs include Adelaida District, Creston District, El Pomar District, Paso Robles Estrella District, Paso Robles Gene- seo District, Paso Robles Highlands District, Paso Robles Willow Creek District, San Juan Creek, San Miguel District, Santa Margarita Ranch and the Templeton Gap District. "These new AVAs will be a powerful tool for wineries to explain why certain grapes are particularly well-suited to certain parts of the appellation and why some wines show the characteristics they do while other wines, from the same or similar grapes, show differently," said Jason Haas, General Manager of Tablas Creek Vineyard and a member of the Paso Robles AVA Committee. "Ultimately, the new AVAs will allow these newly created sub-regions to develop identities for themselves with a clarity impossible in a single large AVA." AVA labeling provides information to consumers and trade about what is in the bottle, helping them make a better informed buying decision based on expectations of the region. Thanks to a conjunctive labeling law spearheaded by the Paso Robles Wine Country Alliance in 2007, the Paso Robles AVA retains top billing on a wine label with the individual districts serving as a way to fine-tune location and potential character of wines. While Paso Robles wineries are not required to use the sub-region on the label, when they do, Paso Robles will be printed with equal or more significance. "Our AVA is an incredibly diverse region that has taken its rightful place on the world wine stage," said Steve Lohr, Chairman and CEO of J. Lohr Vineyards & Wines and for- mer chairman of the Paso Robles Wine Country Alliance. "These sub-appellations will allow growers and vintners to tell their stories more clearly, which in turn will give consumers and the trade a much greater un- derstanding of Paso's diversity and com- plexity. Prior to this, Paso Robles was the largest non-county California AVA not cur- rently subdivided. It is also an area with more diversity of rainfall, soils and climate than almost any other comparably sized re- gion. We have been a great believer in this initiative since the beginning, and are proud that it has been accomplished in a way that will strengthen the Paso Robles brand with conjunctive labeling." The petition for the 11 new AVAs was filed in the spring of 2007 by the specially formed Paso Robles AVA Committee. A group of 59 vintners and growers, with the assistance of experts in a variety of fields, methodically crafted the submission with science as its standard. The petition proved to be the single largest AVA proposal ever filed with the United States Alcohol and To- bacco Tax and Trade Bureau due to the scale and scientific data assembled to sub- stantiate the request. The TTB published the final ruling on October 9. One can read the announce- ment in full at www.ttb.com. The official map of the 11 Viticultural Areas, as well as a comparison grid detailing climate, rain- fall, topography and more is available at www.pasowine.com/media-center/the- avas-of-paso-robles.php. GN Top 10 Global Retailers Show Modest Growth in 2014 Revenues for the world's top 10 largest re- tailers reached $1.3 trillion in the last fiscal year. This is a 2.9 percent change from the prior year, indicating modest growth. The retailers have been ranked according to their fiscal 2013 net retail revenue in U.S. dollars. The average size of the top 10 re- tailers exceeded $129 billion. U.S.-based Walmart remained the world's largest retailer, with retail revenue totaling 4.5 times that of its nearest competitor. Costco moved into second place in 2013, up from third in 2012, continuing its ascent up the ranking. Carrefour, Schwarz Group, Tesco and Kroger - ranked in marginal de- scending order - all achieved 2013 retail revenues of over $98 billion. In 2013, Car- refour assumed third place, barely edging out Schwarz Group, which moved up two spots into fourth place. Tesco dropped from second place in 2012 to fifth in 2013 as a result of both declining sales and a weaker British pound against the U.S. dollar. Sixth- ranked Kroger may overtake all three of these companies in the future as a result of its January 2014 acquisition of Harris Teeter Supermarkets, which had revenues of $4.7 billion in fiscal year 2013. "Retail revenue growth in 2013 was mod- est. This was due to a number of contribu- tory factors such as weakness in the global economy and rising market share for inter- net retailers," said Dr. Ira Kalish, Chief Global Economist with Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Limited, the company responsi- ble for tracking and compiling the list of the top 10 global retailers. "As for the global economy, 2013 saw a tightening of fiscal policy in the U.S., which included tax in- creases. In Europe, the fallout from the Eu- rozone debt crisis continued with governments implementing austerity meas- ures, unemployment staying high and credit conditions remaining restrictive. And in the UK, real wages continued to decline." Further down the top 10 list, Metro maintained its ranking as the world's sev- enth largest retailer. Aldi overtook Home Depot on the back of a stronger euro com- pared with 2012. And tenth-ranked Target retained its position among the top 10. "The global retail industry is going through an interesting period of change, particularly as technological innovation continues to take pace," said Vicky Eng, DTTL Global Sector Leader for Retail. "For the first time, in the top 10 ranking we are seeing a large number of grocery businesses that are clustered just under the $100 bil- lion range … The breakaway leader of this pack will be the one with the retail beyond foresight to embrace exponential innova- tion. Increasingly that will be the key to fu- ture success in retail." GN

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