Almost one year after the BP oil accident, the seafood industry is still suffering reduced consumption. Seafood Business, a trade magazine, reports the following changes in seafood consumption (survey conducted by Technomic):

A similar study from the Louisiana Seafood Promotion and Marketing Board found that 48.3% of consumers say they are eating less seafood overall.

In an effort to counter the negative impact to regional seafood sales, the Gulf of Mexico Reef Fish Shareholders' Alliance launched Gulf Wild last month, a branding effort that will attach a unique tag to the gill of every fish its members catch. This program utilizes product traceability capabilities to enable consumers to check precisely where the fish was harvested. The program enables consumers to know that their seafood purchase was specifically tested for safety, but also that these fish was caught in an environmentally sustainable way.

This data regarding marked changes in consumer purchases of seafood, and specifically seafood from the gulf, provides a sense of similar challenges Japan may face in the coming months and years. Could Japan employ a program similar to the Gulf Wild program to restore its image and protect its food industry? Interestingly, many Japanese producers had already been more progressive in traceability efforts, as consumers demand pedigrees on premium products. In fact Japan already strict regulations about one up, one back traceability across a broad range of food products and full traceability requirements for beef. Assuring consumers would require extending one up, one down traceability all of the way from producer/farm to consumer for all impacted foods. Perhaps, it isn't a big leap for Japan to implement these extended traceability capabilities for seafood and other food including rice, dairy and leafy vegetables produced, packed and shipped from the impacted region. I have read, however, that many companies still do not comply with existing laws.