A retailer’s perception of preservation methods for salmon – An explorative study about defrosted salmon in Japan

Summary

When salmon are transported by plane, distribution accounts for the majority of emissions throughout the salmon's life cycle. The aim of this project was to gain knowledge about how a retailer in a major airfreight market (Japan) perceived the possibility of a transition from fresh airfreighted salmon to defrosted salmon transported frozen by boat. The results show that there are both challenges and opportunities to replace fresh with defrosted salmon in Japan. Challenges are related to high preferences for fresh salmon, limited focus on carbon emissions from the consumers, and generally lower willingness to pay for defrosted products. The possibilities lie in existing experience with eating defrosted products (e.g. tuna), reduction of food waste, and improved freezing and thawing technologies. The Japanese retailer thought it should be possible to replace some fresh with defrosted salmon if price and quality are satisfactory.