Radio Script
2004

Chinese consumers, such as this father and son in a restaurant in China, taste salmon protein powder made from Alaska salmon. Research suggests Alaska salmon protein powder is favored in China. (Courtesy Cathy Xu.)

Alaska Salmon Protein May Have China Market
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INTRO: Wild Alaska salmon has been enjoying a kind of renaissance of late. After years of declining markets, prices and demand for species such as sockeye and chinook are on the rise. But for pink and chum salmon, two species that are traditionally abundant in number but low in value, markets have remained stagnant. That may soon change now that researchers who conducted taste-tests say protein powder made from low-value Alaska salmon has proven a bit hit. Doug Schneider has more in this week's Arctic Science Journeys Radio.

STORY: Like many good ideas, this one was happened upon by accident. In 2003, Cathy Xu was a graduate student of Chinese descent studying economics at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. After her son Felix was born, Xu began looking for fish protein powder, a dietary supplement made from carp that's commonly used in China to fortify baby food.

XU: "That's why I asked my sister to send me some fish powder. I know she can find it in China. Then she said why not just find powder in Alaska because we have a lot of salmon there. I tried but I couldn't find it. That's why I came on the idea of producing the powder and maybe it might be possible to ship it to China and compete with the local carp powder and make some profit from it."

Thus began Xu's two-year effort to make and then test protein powders made from Alaska's abundant supply of inexpensive pink and chum salmon. According to her just-completed study that included surveys and taste-tests in five Chinese cities, Xu's salmon protein powder proved a big hit.

XU: "From the Chinese survey we got information such as what kind of powder they like. The Chinese kids really prefer the Alaskan salmon powder much more than carp."

Xu's study began months earlier, in a lab at the University of Alaska Fairbanks Fishery Industrial Technology Center in Kodiak. There, she worked with seafood specialist Chuck Crapo to make samples of the protein powder. Some of the samples were made from just the edible flesh, while other samples were made using the flesh, bones and skin. A few samples were sweetened with powdered sugar. While each had its own characteristic taste, Xu said all the powders had one important element in common.

XU: "They have many nutritional factors but the most important of all is protein content. We have very high protein in the salmon powder. It is more than 70 percent, and the Chinese carp powder has around 55 percent protein content."

Before taking the study to China, Xu conducted a series of informal taste-tests at gatherings of friends and acquaintances from the Chinese community in Fairbanks. Ultimately, five kinds of salmon powders were selected for taste-tests in China.

XU: "We had five cities. We had Beijing, that is the capital of China and is a very big city. And we had Tianjin, one of the biggest coastal cities in northern China, and we had two middle-income cities like Shijianzhuang and Baoding. And we had another city, actually this is a county, called Wangdu county."

In places where parents and their children would be expected to gather—places like shopping malls, hospitals, and even McDonald's restaurants—survey givers asked 250 Chinese consumers and their children to try the powders and rank their responses.

Mark Herrmann is a professor of economics at UAF. He says the results were overwhelmingly positive.

HERRMANN: "I think the most telling statistic was that when consumers tried all the products, we asked them what their preferred product was, and 90 percent of them picked salmon compared to just 10 percent who picked carp. Of those 90 percent who picked salmon as their favorite product, 70 percent indicated they would like to buy it."

The most popular powder was one made from early run pink salmon, sweetened with powdered sugar.

The results could mean there's a waiting market in China for protein powder made from Alaska salmon. But it remains to be seen just what the Alaska salmon industry will do with the research. Researchers also say it's one thing to find out that Chinese consumers like and would buy Alaska salmon protein powder. But more studies are needed to see if mass-producing salmon protein powder is economically feasible. Globally, products that use protein from soy, whey, chicken and beef constitute a multibillion-dollar business. Lily Dong is a Chinese marketing professor at UAF. She believes there's a market for more than just salmon powder.

DONG: "Yes, like snacks or drinks. I think there are a lot of alternative or possibilities for this product. It doesn't have to be just in this form."

The Alaska Sea Grant College Program and the University of Alaska Fairbanks School of Management funded Cathy Xu's research. This is Arctic Science Journeys Radio, a production of the Alaska Sea Grant Program and the University of Alaska Fairbanks School of Fisheries and Ocean Sciences. I'm Doug Schneider.

Thanks to the following individuals for help preparing this script:

Dr. Brian Allee, Director
Alaska Sea Grant College Program
University of Alaska Fairbanks
School of Fisheries and Ocean Sciences
Phone: 907-474-7086
Email: allee@sfos.uaf.edu

Dr. Mark Herrmann, Professor of Economics
School of Management
University of Alaska Fairbanks
Phone: 907-474-7116
Email: ffmlh@uaf.edu.

Dr. Lily Dong, Assistant Professor
School of Management
University of Alaska Fairbanks
Phone: (907) 474-1993
Email: fflcd@uaf.edu

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Related websites

Alaska Sea Grant News Release: Alaska salmon may have market as powder in China

Online report: An Economic Analysis of the Market for Wild Alaska Salmon Protein Concentrates in China [PDF; 878 KB]

Advances in Seafood Byproducts: 2002 Conference Proceedings

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