UN WORLD HEALTH DAY – AN OPPORTUNITY TO SHOWCASE SEAFOOD AS HEALTHY FOR YOU, AND THE PLANET

UN World Health Day – An opportunity to showcase seafood as healthy for you, and the planet. The theme for this year’s UN World Health Day on April 7^th is Health For All. The organisation will be observing its 75^th anniversary and will be looking back across the last seven decades. This is the perfect opportunity to look at the array of benefits of eating sustainably caught fish and seafood as both good for people and good for the planet.

Health For All envisions that all people have good health for a fulfilling life in a peaceful, prosperous, and sustainable world. Eating fish and seafood comes with many health and environmental benefits.

Fish and seafood are protein-rich and contain essential nutrients, such as Vitamin A, Vitamin B-12, calcium, iodine, iron, zinc and omega-3 fatty acids. White fish and shellfish are also low in fat, making them one of the healthier options and can therefore play a vital role in ensuring that people get the nutrients they need.

According to The Blue Food Assessment – an international joint initiative that brings together over 100 scientists from more than 25 institutions worldwide – “blue foods” generally have a lower environmental footprint than many land-based animal-sourced foods. Blue foods are those derived from aquatic animals, plants or algae that are caught or cultivated in freshwater and marine environments.

Aquaculture, done in the right way, will be a part of the solution. The hunger to develop must come from everyone; and Norway, as a leading seafood nation, is continuously improving practices to raise the bar even further. Norwegian producers are already leading in reducing the use of feed and antibiotics and using deforestation-free suppliers, for example.

According to Christian Chramer, CEO of the Norwegian Seafood Council (NSC), the NSC’s seafood trends reports highlights how educating and inspiring consumers about the health benefits of eating seafood, as well as new innovations in the market, are vital to pushing the category forward.

“Worldwide obesity has nearly tripled since 1975, according to WHO. The need to educate consumers about eating more sustainable healthy protein is crucial, and let’s not undersell the fact that it’s tasty and delicious as well,” he says.

“We know that seafood is seen by many as the healthier option, but consumers in several markets continue to eat less fish. Innovation from companies continues to inspire consumption uptake, and the Norwegian Seafood Council work to communicate on behalf of what is undoubtably a healthy, delicious, and convenient alternative. We encourage producers to continue to come up with innovative twists on seafood products to keep pushing this forward.

“While seafood already performs very well in accordance with the scientific consensus regarding a healthy choice for planet and people, we can still play an even larger part in making healthy food more accessible. Our industry is in a particularly strong position both here in Norway and abroad.

“The data from our reports in this area highlights the importance of sustainability for consumer choices, but also the fact that people’s associations around sustainability do not necessarily match up. It highlights a need to fill an information gap and bring more clarity to consumer ideas around food where consumer awareness of sustainability is increasing dramatically.

“Our fish and seafood producers work hard to reassure customers in their export markets that the fish they receive is traceable, sustainable and of the very best quality. From pioneering stock management to diverse fishing fleets, everything we do has to have sustainability at its heart.

“On UN World Health Day we are proud to highlight the range of healthy and delicious Norwegian seafood products, and that our healthy, sustainable fish and seafood meets all the requirements necessary for the health of individuals, as well as the planet.”