Recap from Global Food Talk: “The seafood sector’s contributions to healthier and more sustainable food systems”
In connection with UN’s World Ocean Day on June 8, Food Nation hosted a Global Food Talk, on how the fishing-, aquaculture- and processing sectors can be significant drivers towards securing a reliable and sustainable supply of seafood worldwide.
We face major challenges in providing safe and healthy sources of protein, as part of a stable and sustainable food system, that can supply current and future generations. At this Global Food Talk, high-level profiles from the fisheries, aquaculture and research industries, dived into the latest innovations, scalable actions, and partnership models that drive the sustainable development in the seafood sector and the Blue Economy.
By unlocking the potential of our oceans in a sustainable way, we can address critical issues such as food security, climate change, and sustainability. The journey towards a thriving Blue Economy requires collaboration and partnerships where we leverage the collective expertise and drive meaningful change.
Aquatic foods are part of the solution
The keynote speaker Manuel Barange, Director of the Fisheries and Aquaculture Division at FAO, started out by highlighting the increasing focus on aquatic foods because of its lower environmental footprint and strong nutritional components. He also strongly emphasized that aquatic foods are vital to solving the global food challenges and that increased collaboration between industry partners both locally and globally is vital.
Changing the value chain and consumer habits
Jens Kjerulf Petersen from DTU AQUA and Liselotte Hohwy Stokholm from Tænketanken Hav, who participated in the first fireside session, discussed how we can ensure sufficient sources of protein for everyone now and in the future.
Both fireside participants touched upon how important it is for the industry to take action across the entire value chain. New innovations and new production methods must be incorporated into the value chain and to do so effectively, industry collaboration is crucial.
In addition, the fireside session emphasized that changing consumer habits also plays an important role for the future of the seafood sector. Not only must we as consumers evaluate our food habits, but the sector must in turn also adjust their product communication in order for consumers to be able to make more informed choices, and select products based on the product’s environmental footprint.
Collaboration and data drive innovation
In the second fireside session, Paw Petersen from OxyGuard and Hanne Kvist from Royal Greenland, provided valuable insights to how product innovations can accelerate the transformation towards more sustainable seafood systems.
Highlighted in the session, was that the key to continuous innovation is collaboration, and that cross-sector cooperation with relevant industry partners, academia, public administration and government is highly important. Moreover, uniform political frameworks and systems are crucial to create environments that incentivize innovation.
The fireside participants also underlined how the use of data and digitalization play a major role for greener innovations within the seafood sector and encouraged industry players to always have an open mind towards new innovations and different perspectives in order to continue to drive innovation.