High Liner Foods Takes High Road on Safety
As New Primary Processing Plant Opens in PRC

White Wine & Herb Shrimp, one of the Sea Cuisine innovations from High Liner, uses Quicksteam microwave packaging.

Frozen seafood producer and marketer High Liner Foods Inc. wants to “bulletproof” its supply chain. Consumers are increasingly demanding food safety, according to a management discussion and analysis recently released by the Lunenburg, Nova Scotia, Canada-based company, which saw $19.8 million in profit in 2009, up from $14.2 million in 2008. Revenue was $627.2 million, compared with $616 million in 2008.

“Becoming ‘bulletproof’ on food safety will allow us to continue to use China for primary processing and manage the risk to our businesses and brands,” said the 50-page document. “An important aspect of food safety is traceability in the supply chain – an area we remain keenly focused on continuing to improve.”

In order to improve the quality, supply and cost of products it buys from Asia, High Liner Foods has set up a joint venture with a Danish raw material supplier. Along with an Asian company, it was to open a processing facility in China in March. “Being able to control the processing facility will allow us to better ensure the quality of our products,” said the management analysis. “We expect cost reductions for products produced from this arrangement, but the other benefits are more significant.”

High Liner’s major customers are demanding products that are certified as sustainable, it said, noting that in three or four years this will be a compliance issue. “Consumers are focused on food safety and have expressed concerns about food labeled ‘Product of China.’ We do a lot of primary processing in China because the costs are substantially lower there than anywhere else. We have worked hard in establishing a procurement structure that allows us to be confident in our quality, no matter where the primary processing is done.”

Moving primary processing to another developing country won’t solve the problem, and moving it to North America or Europe would cost too much at a time when consumers demand value, according to High Liner.

Meanwhile, the company has added two sauced shrimp products to its High Liner Sea Cuisine™ line of prepared frozen seafood entrées, now available at retail grocery stores. They are White Wine & Herb Shrimp, large shrimp in a white wine sauce with herbs and a hint of sherry; and Shrimp Scampi, large shrimp in a flavorful butter and garlic scampi sauce.