The Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute is all over the map in May, promoting the state’s seafood produce.
ASMI staff were on hand at the European Seafood Exposition in Brussels, Belgium, in the first week of May to work with buyers and sellers from more than 140 countries at the exposition, along with some 1,600 other exhibitors. The ASMI pavilion itself featured 21 companies.
On the domestic scene, the ASMI Foodservice staff is touring college and university campuses to promote seafood. Events in early May included the first Alaska seafood dinner at the University of Iowa in Iowa City, where over 3,000 meals featuring Alaska salmon, halibut, king and snow crab and cod were presented, along with information on these fisheries. ASMI officials said that university personnel were very encouraged by the turnout and looking forward to working with ASMI again next year to expand that promotion.
ASMI is working with the Winn Dixie supermarket chain in Florida to create an Alaska section in their stores, and with Lund Byerly’s, a Minnesota based grocer, on a campaign to promote sustainable Alaska seafood.
In Japan, ASMI will be collaborating with the U.S. Agricultural Trade Office Tokyo to support an upcoming American Fair at Aeon supermarkets. Some 350 outlets across Japan will be involved in the promotion of Alaska sockeye salmon during the fair, and ASMI Japan will provide point-of-sale materials, merchandising tools and in-store demonstration staff to sample the fish.
Back in Alaska, ASMI was partnered with the Juneau Economic Development Council for the Juneau Maritime Festival coming up May 14.
