1. Seafood sector Seafood is an important part of the Australian diet. Domestic demand for seafood continues to grow: between 1991 and 1999, consumption of seafood in Australia increased by 12 percent (from 13.5 kg to 15.1 kg per capita)51. Australian households spend about 2.5 per cent of their food budgets on seafood products, which is about the same as expenditure on poultry52. The last few decades have also seen changes in the way Australians eat seafood, such as increasing consumption of sushi and smoked fish.
This increase in consumer demand is met to some extent by importing seafood products and by producing seafood through aquaculture. Approximately half of all seafood consumed in Australia is produced domestically and the other half is imported53. This means that any proposed food safety management systems for the primary production sector must adequately address food safety for imported as well as domestically produced seafood and must take into consideration the increasing trend for seafood to be produced through aquaculture.
