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| Cornish Sardines are being given away free in Sainsburys! |
On Friday 25th January 2013, Sainsbury’s is set to give away seven tonnes of lesser known British fish (lemon sole, mussels, Cornish sardines, coley fillets and loch trout fillets) to encourage customers to expand their food repertoire and eat alternative species. ‘Switch the Fish Day’ is part of the retailer’s continued commitment to sustainable fish.
When a customer asks for one of the Big Five species (cod, haddock, tuna, salmon and prawns) at the fish counter on ‘Switch the Fish Day’ they can try a lesser known alternative for free*. The launch builds on the success of Sainsbury’s first ‘Switch the Fish Day’ in 2011 which saw sales of fish soar by 12% across fish counters on the day. Following the campaign sales of alternatives increased with rainbow trout +42% and coley +11.4%, while 8 tonnes of megrim sold – a specie that 85% of the population had never heard of before, according to Sainsbury’s research.
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| Cornish sardines on the barbecue - a summer favourite - why not grill some now? |
The Switch the Fish campaign launches alongside new research from Sainsbury’s which shows cookbooks aimed at families and children continue to encourage the consumption of the Big Five species. The research, which analysed the top 25 children’s and family cookbooks in the UK, shows that 78% of all fish recipes required one of the Big Five species. Across all fish recipes salmon was the most commonly featured fish (25%), followed by prawns (14%) and tuna (14%). Of the 22% of recipes which contained alternative species, mackerel came out on top, included in 5% of all fish recipes, followed by trout and seabass (2% each). Perhaps most worrying, only three books across the whole sample, contained messages about sustainability and the importance of using lesser known species.
Sainsbury’s hopes that the Switch the Fish campaign will better help educate consumers about making sustainable choices. As part of Sainsbury’s commitment, 18,000 counters colleagues have gone through training at the Sainsbury’s food colleges.
Full story here from J Sainsburys.
Species that Sainsbury’s will be giving away for free as part of the Switch the Fish campaign are: Lemon Sole, Mussels, Coley, Loch Trout and of course.......Cornish sardines:
Sardines (also known as pilchards) are an oil-rich fish naturally high in Omega-3, and they also provide a variety of vitamins and minerals. Ours come from an iconic fishery in Cornwall that’s been exporting fish since 1555! They’re MSC-certified and available fresh from our fish counters from July to February.