on continues to achieve a high level of popularity among all seafood offerings, many in the farmed salmon community are looking to delineate themselves within the overall salmon category by focusing on name recognition. Companies are hoping to make their products more visible and desirable among retail and foodservice customers through branding. Marine Harvest, the world’s largest farmed salmon producer, acquired smoked salmon processor Morpol, based in Poland, this past year, and is now looking to expand the brand’s awareness beyond Europe to the United States, said Laura McNaughton, business manager for Morpol NA.The Morpol acquisition coincided with Marine Harvest’s decision to close some processing facilities in Europe and South America, she says. Marine Harvest’s smoked salmon was previously produced with fish from South America, says McNaughton, but Morpol’s product comes from farms in Scotland and Norway, which she says produce a fattier fish.
“The trimmings are better and more aesthetically appealing,” she said, “and I think that will attract new customers.”
Smoked salmon is popular in Europe, and McNaughton is trying to grow the category within the United States by looking at what has worked for Morpol internationally. Germany is Morpol’s largest market.
