CONSUMPTION PATTERNS 



Forms in Which Shrimp are Consiamed 



Shrimp is one of the most popular fishery items on household 

 and restaurant menus. In part, this popularity is based on the variety 

 of dishes that can be prepared from it. Shrimp first found favor nation- 

 ally in shrimp cocktails as an hors d'oeuvre de luxe. Today more and 

 more shrimp is being consumed in entree form. 



A consumer survey conducted some years ago in the city of 

 Rochester, New York, established that 35 percent of the respondent 

 co^>"^'iTners served "sea food" — under which term oysters, shrimp, clams 

 and other shellfish and crustaceans, were included--in cocktail form; 

 the percentages of consumers serving such "sea food" in steamed, fried, 

 or other forms commonly used for preparation of complete meals were 

 smaller. Because of the leading position of shrimp in the "sea food" 

 line, the data gave some indication of the relative popularity of the 

 various forms in which shrimp was then being consumed. The increased 

 production in recent years of frozen packaged, and in parti culsu: of 

 frozen breaded, shrimp products which ordinarily axe served as the main 

 dish may have changed this picture to some extent. 



Consumption in Households 



In a study of fish and shellfish preferences of household con- 

 sumers made by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service in 1951> it 

 was found that shrimp was the variety of shellfish most generally seirved. 

 In the year for which data were obtained shellfish products were served 

 in about 20 percent of the households in this country. 



Of the users of frozen shellfish, over 70 percent served frozen 

 shrimp. Fresh shrimp was used by more than 50 percent of the cons;uners 

 of fresh shellfish. A similar proportion of the users of canned shell- 

 fish bought canned shrimp. 



A recent study of breaded shrimp consianption among household 

 consumers indicated that frozen breaded shrimp was used by about one 

 homemaker in five. More consumers bought uncooked in preference to the 

 cooked product. 



Breaded shrimp was used by families in all income groups, al- 

 though consiimption was greater in the upper income groups. 



In general, consumption of breaded shrimp tended to increase 

 moderately in relation to size of household. 



The results of the study on breaded shrimp consiomption also 

 indicated that young housewives bought breaded shrimp more often than 

 older homemakers; and that, in general, consumption of this product was 

 higher <«iiong white-collar occupations than among occupations requiring 

 manual skills. 



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