The pandemic has proven to be an interesting time for the seafood industry. After a year of rapid category growth at retail and looking ahead as consumers slowly head back into restaurants where seafood is historically king, we believe sales will continue to climb as Alaska seafood can meet consumers’ needs and exceed their expectations. 

To say the past 12 to 18 months have been a challenge is an understatement. 

When the pandemic shut down restaurants, the lamb industry was concerned about the many lamb racks on hand which traditionally went to the foodservice market.

Economist Dan Basse says beef, corn prices will move higher over the next several years.

During a year when consumers moved toward a more normal state of life, foodservice beef sales recalibrated to higher levels that are more typical of the industry, and online grocery beef purchases grew. 

For consumers of meat, poultry and seafood products, convenience still sells, and concerns about sustainability remain strong. 

Every year at this time, I pore over the CDC reports on foodborne outbreaks, FDA and FSIS recalls, death certificates from the CDC database, and more, looking for trends to see where we have been over the last 12 months and try to get a glimmer of where we are headed.

When I wrote this column last year, I had certainly hoped the difficult situation brought on to all of us from the COVID-19 pandemic would be long behind us. As we all know, we’re not quite there yet.