399 



I do not know how much we need to go back in history on this, except 

 that many of you, I am sure, will remember the involvement we got 

 into in the problem of trying to get FDA approval for FPC made 

 from whole fish. That was solved by the Bureau of Commercial Fish- 

 eries embarking on a program, on the advice of the National Academy 

 of Sciences, to produce a product that was wholesome and nutritious. 

 I had the pleasure of serving on the committee that advised the Bureau 

 in that development. In February of this year we got the Food and 

 Drug Administration approval for the Bureau of Commercial Fish- 

 eries process which utilizes fish extracted with isopropyl, and at the 

 same time the Viobin Corp. got approval for a process using dichlor- 

 ethylene. Both processes use hake as raw material. The hake was se- 

 lected initially because it is in large supply, a lean fish not too well 

 utilized in the world fish markets, and there is lots of it around the 

 world. We are continuing the experiments. There is lots more to know. 

 "We are continuing experiments with high-fat fish like menhaden, sar- 

 dines and herring, which are also likely to be raw material resources 

 particularly in the tropical areas. 



These and matters of solvent recovery, mixed batches of fish, and so 

 forth, become important further research projects that must be con- 

 tinued in this area, but we do at the present time have two approved 

 processeSj and it is on these we are building our program. 



There is a third process coming down the line, a process developed 

 by a Swedish firm called Astra, very similar to that developed by the 

 Bureau of Commercial Fisheries, which is receiving some publicity 

 in Europe. Thej^ are planning to set up an American firm, I believe, 

 to exploit it in this country. 



The processes are all very well. My background is in food marketing 

 and the food industry. I have learned the hard way, both in this coun- 

 try and abroad, that the process is not important. The important ques- 

 tion is how to sell the product. 



It is useless to put plants up until you know what you are going to 

 do with the product. So, the emphasis in our program is marketing : to 

 answer the question, "How do we sell it, and how much can we sell?" 

 from which you can make legitimate business decisions as to whether or 

 not vou can afford to invest in plants. 



Tlie program is based on the philosophy there is no point in anything 

 unless it can stand on its own two feet and have permanence. I do not 

 hold that heavy subsidies going in forever and ever are permanent. 

 I think the product must be wanted by the consumer if the consumer 

 continues to support it. 



We are approaching the market, therefore, in three phases overseas. 

 Again, we think this is innovative and valuable. The first phase is a 

 systems analysis of the market. "Systems analysis" is a fancy way of 

 saying a study of all facets of the market, to get measurements, to de- 

 termine when approaches should be made and what these mean in terms 

 of overall market penetration. 



For the second phase we plan to make a study of the characteristics 

 of the market insofar as the cultural and social attitudes toward food 

 and nutrition are concerned. This is based upon the strong belief that 

 we are expert marketers in this country because we know our own so- 

 ciety well. We know the arguments to use to convince people of various 



