Seafood Product Preparation & Packaging NAICS 311710

Mar 23, 2025 - Rising Prices

• Producer prices for manufacturers of seafood products, which have been trending upward since May, continued to climb in December. The producer price index for seafood product producers, which measures prices before reaching consumers, rose 5.9% in December compared to a year ago after falling 3.4% in the previous December-versus-December annual comparison, according to the latest US Bureau of Labor Statistics data. Employment by seafood product producers fell 10.8% year over year in January, while in February average wages at food manufacturers rose 3.6% to $23.87 per hour, down from their peak in January, BLS data show.
• In what’s believed to be the first case of forced labor at sea brought against a US seafood company, Indonesian fishermen have sued Bumble Bee Foods alleging the canned seafood giant knew of abuse in its supply chain, Food Manufacturing reports. The lawsuit accuses Bumble Bee of violating the Trafficking Victims Protection Act, which allows foreigners who suffered from human trafficking to sue US businesses that knew, or should have known, they were profiting from forced labor. Per the lawsuit, which calls for a jury trial, the fisherman worked for longline vessels owned by Chinese companies from which Bumble Bee sourced its albacore tuna. They say they were beaten by their captains and trapped onboard. The suit seeks compensation for unpaid wages and abuse, improved working conditions, and systemic changes to operations. Bumble Bee has previously been warned of inhumane conditions in its supply chain, an attorney for the men said.

• Mass deportations of undocumented workers and tariffs on imports — as promised by President Trump during his campaign – would deepen the seafood processing industry’s labor shortage and lead to price hikes on fish and seafood, CNN reports. “There’s no question that mass deportation of immigrants will disrupt the agriculture and food processing industries, resulting in severe labor shortages, higher costs and thus higher prices for a wide variety of groceries,” Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody’s Analytics, told CNN. Seafood processors are highly dependent on foreign-born workers, particularly in the most labor-intensive roles, which has increased US dependence on imported seafood and held back economic growth, according to a report by the New American Economy Research Fund. The US is a net importer of fish and marine products, meaning much of the seafood consumed in the US would be subject to Trump’s proposed 20% across-the-board tariffs on imports.
• The FDA is asking the seafood industry, academia, and other relevant parties for more information on perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in seafood, Seafood Source reports. The agency in November opened a request for information regarding PFAS, also known as “forever chemicals” because they don’t easily break down and have been shown to accumulate in the environment and in human bodies. The FDA has said its testing indicates that seafood may be at higher risk for environmental PFAS contamination compared with other types of foods. According to the agency, the purpose of the request is to help increase its understanding of the potential for PFAS exposure from seafood. It says it intends to use the information submitted in response to its request to help inform future activities to reduce dietary exposure to PFAS that may pose health concerns. The deadline for comments was February 18, 2025.