Thanks to all who provided thoughts and suggestions. As many
indicated a rough break-down by dollars spent is available in the
NOAA report "Fisheries of the United States 2005." Thus far, this is
the only source I've learned of for home vs food service seafood
consumption. (Venugopal did provide some interesting survey data on
seafood choices by US food shoppers.) If I learn of any additional
source(s), I'll report back to this list.
John's point (below) about tracking dollars spent versus weight of
seafood is an important point...It gets further convoluted when one
considers how different kinds of seafood are likely divided between
these at-home vs restaurant categories.
For those interested, this is what the NMFS 2005 report, "Fisheries
of the United States," provides:
Total consumer expenditures for fisheries products in 2005: ~$65.2
billion
We spent $44.5 billion at food service establishments, $20.5 billion
for home consumption and $207.9 million for industrial fish products.
Expressed as a proportion, consumer expenditures are (approximately)
split as follows:
68.2% restaurants, carry-outs, caterers, etc
31.4% at-home consumption
0.32% industrial products
Similar data (pattern virtually unchanged) for 2003 and 2004 are
available in previous reports. The NMFS report for 2002 did not
include these estimates.
Cheers, Pete
On Feb 19, 2007, at 5:59 AM, John Sackton wrote:
> Peter- I would look at Fisheries of the U.S. published by NOAA.
>
> The problem is that data is mostly reported by value. If done by
> consumer spending, about 2/3 of the seafood is foodservice, and 1/3
> retail.
>
> However, if done by pounds, the situation is very different -- I am
> not sure of any good source of overall figures, My understanding is
> that the retail portion by volume is from 50% to 66% of the total
> consumption -- and of course this will vary heavily by species.
>
> The other problem is product weight. With the exception of the per
> capita statistics, much of NMFS data is landed weight -- not very
> useful when comparing volumes across species, as for example scallops
> are landed at 100% meat weights, while cod or pollock might be 25% to
> 35% fillet weight, and shellfish can be anything depending on how it
> is sold, i.e. whole/live, sections, meat weight, headless shrimp etc.
>
> John Sackton
>
> On 2/18/07, Peter A. Nelson <panelson@ucdavis.edu> wrote:
>> Can anyone tell me where I may be able to get data on home
>> consumption of seafood in the USA? I'd like to know how much is being
>> eaten at home versus consumed in restaurants.
>>
>> Thanks in advance, Pete
>>
>>
>> Peter A. Nelson
>> Marine Advisor
>> California Sea Grant
>> 2 Commercial Street, Suite 4
>> Eureka, California 95501
>>
>> Tel 707.443.8369
>> Fax 707.445.3901
>> panelson@ucdavis.edu
>>
>>
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