May 25, 2006

Organic cod makes its debut in the UK

British consumers whose conscience are smitten each time they bite into wild codfish now have an alternative that comes with a clever tag line and designer packaging to boot.

Johnson Sustainable Seafoods is launching a fresh fish brand called No Catch ...Just Cod.

The product would make its debut in Tesco from Monday (May 29). The fish comes from Shetland, reputedly the world's biggest cod hatchery. The fish are fed offcuts of fish already harvested and no pesticides or dyes are added.

To attract the avant garde in which most of the company's targeted health conscious consumers belong, the fishery tasked a design company with the packaging, with specific order to make its ethical credentials stand out.

The end result: packaging that emphasises the product's origins and that it is "tasty, totally natural fish". The packaging further adds that the fish is the world's first organic, sustainable cod and carries the somewhat contradictory line "Good for you, great for fish".

Concerns about rapidly diminishing stocks of cod, a perennial favourite among consumers, has been growing, leading to restrictions on cod fishing in parts of Scotland and Ireland. 

No Catch claims that its product is more environmentally friendly because it comes from a sustainable source. The fact that fish is harvested from a farm, as opposed to being caught in the wild, also meant freshness and a higher quality.