EINNEWS, November 16—If you are not concerned about eating seafood from the Gulf of Mexico December 1 would be a good time to show it.
That’s when 150 chefs from throughout the U.S. plan to participate in “America’s Night Out for Gulf Seafood,” by adding Gulf seafood products to their menus and promoting the safety of the products.
Since the BP offshore oil disaster in the Gulf sales of seafood have plummeted. The federal Food and Drug Administration and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration both say that their tests give Gulf seafood a clean bill of health, but other scientists aren’t so sure. And neither, apparently, is the consuming public.
To combat that skepticism, Louisiana has a delegation in New York, headed by the state’s Lieutenant Governor, stoking what it hopes will be favorable publicity for Gulf seafood. The big bash December 1 is an attempt to convince consumers that it’s okay to go back to the shrimp, oysters and other Gulf seafood that’s always been so popular.
The industry was just recovering from the losses created due to Hurricane Katrina and the economic downturn when the oil platform blew up off shore and two hundred million gallons of oil flowed into the pristine fishing waters of the Gulf
Seafood demand is down by more than 50 percent nationally.
The aim of “America’s Night Out for Gulf Seafood” is to get chefs from around the country to participate either in their homes or businesses. Each would prepare a meal that included one or more dishes made with Gulf seafood.
For more seafood news, visit Seafood News Today (http://seafood.einnews.com), a seafood media monitoring service from EIN News.