Available in four tasty flavors, sardines are making a come back with health-conscious, green consumers.
Living up to its values to provide consumers with wild-caught seafood that is eco-friendly and high quality, Raincoast Trading today announced a tasty new addition to its sustainable seafood product lineup: Pacific Sardines. Like its sister products, Raincoast Trading Pacific Wild Sardines are carefully packed in BPA-free tins, all-natural, traced from boat to shelf, and Ocean Wise endorsed.
“Sardines are making a come back with health and environmentally conscious consumers who seek seafood that is local, nutritious, sustainable and inexpensive,” said Mike Wick, owner of Raincoast Trading. “Our customers are really excited about our new sardine line hitting grocer’s shelves. However, we still anticipate having to educate the broader public about the benefits of eating sardines, which are low in contaminants and high in health benefits.”
A small silvery fish, Pacific Sardines are a powerhouse of nutrition. Today a growing number of nutritional experts are touting sardines as valuable sources of omega-3 oils, vitamins, calcium, and protein, which are beneficial to cardiovascular health, memory, joints, skin and energy levels. Even Canada’s Food Guide recommends pregnant women consume at least 150 grams (5 ounces) of sardines and similar cooked seafood each week.
According to writer James Villas who published an essay entitled “The Unsung Sardine” in Town & Country Magazine: “Ounce for ounce, sardines provide more calcium and phosphorus than milk, more protein than steak, more potassium than bananas, and more iron than cooked spinach.” Other nutritional references confirm these facts.
“Unlike other brands, Raincoast Trading use premium sea salt rather than iodized salt to flavour our fish,” said Wick. “Our sardines also have a firm texture and white flesh colour that we believe contributes to a superior taste. For consumers who have never tried sardines, now might be a good time to try our brand. We think consumers will notice the difference in quality between our sardines and conventional brands. Sardines are also a versatile and convenient option for seafood lovers and people on-the-go who want to add a new, simple and delicious seafood option to their diets.”
Sardines (sardinops sagax species), are plentiful and caught with purse seine nets, which have an extremely low impact on ocean habitat and result in little to no by-catch primarily because Pacific Coast fishermen target a specific school of fish that usually consists of one species. Because these fish are found in tight schools, capturing them requires little chasing around, dragging of nets, or setting of lines, so their carbon footprint is low. Pacific Sardines are OceanWise recommended and the Monterey Bay Aquarium has ranked sardines in the top five in its Super Green List.
Raincoast Trading’s Pacific Sardines are available in five varieties: Natural Spring Water, Tomato Sauce, Cumin & Coriander, Dill & Parsley, Chili & Lime. The two-ounce (120 gram) tins sell for a suggested retail price of approximately $3 and can be found at Whole Foods, Loblaw’s and numerous organic independent retailers across Canada. Visit the company’s website and Facebook fan page for serving suggestions and sardine recipe ideas.
About Raincoast Trading Raincoast Trading (www.raincoasttrading.com) has been selling premium wild seafood products since 1978. Based on the west coast of Canada in Delta, B.C., the company is owned by a fourth generation fishing family that is proud to offer consumers eco-friendly, gourmet canned seafood. The company’s canned salmon shared the honour for first place in a blind taste test done by the Globe and Mail newspaper.
