Market Test of a Range of Pacific Oyster Products

Summary

Six frozen Pacific oyster products, the most promising of those developed in earlier White Fish Authority trials, were test marketed in two stages in 1974 and 1975 under the brand name, Oyster Bay. It was unfortunate that the timing of the campaign, although logical in the progression of the project, coincided with the onset and early stages of the economic depression, as one of the main reasons put forward for lack of interest by the caterers was that of price. Perhaps the major reason for the disappointing level of acceptability, however, was the overall lack of familiarity with cooked oyster products although it was encouraging to note the response to the products when this was overcome. It was also encouraging to record that fresh oysters in the shell are regarded favourably and until the quantity of UK-grown Pacific oysters increase substantially to bring production costs down in order that the processed products become economically viable, the White Fish Authority recommend that growers concentrate their efforts into stimulating demand for Pacific oysters sold in the shell in local restaurants and hotel, particularly during the holiday season. This report has been produced from a scanned original and may therefore contain some formatting and other inaccuracies. In cases where this affects the technical content, a paper copy of the original report can still be obtained from Seafish.

Publication Reference No.

SR138

Publication date

01 August 1976