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TESCO, Britain's largest supermarket chain, said last night that sales of pout fish fillets (sometimes called pouting) are soaring and have already achieved 50 per cent of the sales of cod fillets.
The store giant says it has become one of the fastest growing trends it has seen in seafood in recent times - and the company puts much of the success down to the recent Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall Fish Fight TV series when highlighted the benefits of pout..
Tesco, which began selling the species six weeks ago, also argues that by highlighting its efforts to promote underutilised species like pouting, it has taken some of the pressure off more popular species like cod and haddock. The company says that the taste is similar to cod, but it is cheaper and more sustainable than cod to which it is related.
Tosco counters customer manager Sophie Williams said: "For a fish that many people had never heard of before this year posting's overnight
success has become one of the UK's greatest food hits of 2011.Pouting is appealing on many levels but money-savvy shoppers like it because it is comparatively cheap and nutritious while those with an ethical conscious favour it because it is not a targeted species.
"The huge sales we're seeing for pout at the moment are also great news because it means pressure being taken off the UK's most popular white fish which are cod and haddock."
It is a wild species found in European waters from as far north as Norway extending all the way down to southern Spain. It is also the
most common species of fish found around the coasts of the UK. It is caught predominantly in shallower, inshore waters around the southwest of England and often a few metres from the shoreline.
Young fish grow rapidly in these rich, coastal waters, reaching maturity within 12 months and growing to 30cm in length at their largest.
Should people be 'stimulated' to eat white fish alternatives to cod?
