The Increasing Importance of Seafood Labels
Until about a century ago, if you lived more than a few miles from the ocean, you were pretty much out of luck when it came to eating seafood regularly. You might be able to get your “water produce” from local rivers or lakes, but it tended to be limited in quantity and nature. You certainly weren’t going to be eating swordfish or lobster. Catfish and crawfish, maybe.
The Refrigeration Revolution changed all that. Suddenly, people in the continental interior could have all the fresh fish, crustaceans, seaweed, and other oceanic foods they wanted, either in frozen or refrigerated formats. That naturally created a huge market for seafood labels, much to the joy and good fortune of label printers everywhere.
Now, before refrigeration, it was possible to get some seafood, in a way, but for centuries it didn’t need labels. Not only was it obvious what it was, no one cared about labeling it, because it was considered food for poor people and slaves. We’re referring specifically to the dried fish, almost always cod, a species that used to be so common that in some areas, people could practically walk across the ocean on their backs.
Dried cod, however, had to last for long periods in order to make it all over the world, and was just this side of edible. Contemporary descriptions basically describe it as boards made from heavily salted and dried fish flesh. Maybe that’s why the Catholic Church proclaimed fish a vegetable, allowing its consumption on Friday. (Beavers were called fish for a while, too.) After traveling thousands of miles, the fish would hit people’s kitchen’s solid as a rock.
If you really wanted to label it, you could write the name on the cod board.
Luckily, we’ve got better preservation methods now for seafood of all kinds, and freezer labels that can cover all of them. These days, identification of the kind of seafood involved is joined on the seafood labels by warnings that some seafood causes allergies, or that things like oysters can cause illnesses during some seasons. Many labels also notify the reader that they are dolphin free safe, or that they were acquired from sustainable fisheries. Many labels will also note whether the food is halal or kosher, so the labels can get pretty busy once you add a logo and image.
But no problem; we can handle them with ease. If you’re ready to label your seafood products, we’re ready to provide the labels. Contact us for a quote, and let’s get swimming.
