Seafood Expo North America/Seafood Processing North America has named 12 finalists for its 2026 Seafood Excellence Awards, selected from 108 entries in the expo’s New Product Showcase.
Winners will be announced at 3:30 p.m. ET on March 15 in the Wave Makers’ Zone at the Thomas M. Menino Convention and Exhibition Center in Boston, followed by a reception. The 44th edition of the expo runs March 15-17.
Finalists compete in two categories — Best New Foodservice Product and Best New Retail Product — and will be judged on taste, uniqueness, packaging, nutritional value, market potential, convenience and originality. All finalist products are displayed at booth No. 3165.
Foodservice finalists
Three products are competing for Best New Foodservice Product.
- Azuma Foods International (booth No. 2686) is entering Tako Wasabi, a chilled raw octopus product marinated in the style of Japanese izakaya culture, featuring genuine Japanese wasabi.
- King & Prince Seafood (booth No. 505) submitted Mrs. Friday’s Honey Butter Biscuit Wild Alaska Pollock, an MSC-certified pollock with a honey butter biscuit coating targeting versatile menu applications.
- Trident Seafoods (booth No. 805) entered Crispy Battered Sauceable Nuggets, made from sustainable Wild Alaska Pollock and designed to hold texture when sauced and hot-held for up to one hour — a feature aimed at dine-in, takeout and delivery operations.
Retail Finalists
Nine products are vying for Best New Retail Product, spanning smoked salmon, ready-to-cook shrimp, sashimi, pasta and shelf-stable stew formats.
- Angel Oak Smokehouse (booth No. 3352) is entering Hot Smoked Salmon Ravioli – handcrafted ravioli filled with hot smoked salmon, ricotta, lemon zest and chives, delivering 38 grams of protein per package of eight pieces.
- Aquamar (booth No. 1057) submitted Cacio e Pepe Risotto Cakes with Shrimp, combining a crispy rice coating with a creamy shrimp risotto filling.
- Cox’s Wholesale Seafood (booth No. 909) entered Wild Caught American Shrimp in Kickin Tikka Masala, one of five chef-inspired flavors. The product uses 100 percent American wild-caught shrimp with no chemicals or preservatives and cooks in five minutes.
- DOM International Limited of Canada (booth No. 2405) submitted DOM Reserve Salmon Sashimi Singles – pre-sliced, individually sealed frozen sashimi portions packaged with soy sauce and wasabi.
- Echo Falls Seafoods (booth No. 1522) entered Smoked Norwegian Atlantic Salmon Party Slices, a three-flavor sampler of beechwood-smoked salmon in Pepper, Traditional and Dill varieties.
- Icy Waters (booth No. 3444) submitted The Good Fish Co. Coconut Margarita Haddock, a 6-ounce Atlantic Haddock fillet with an everything seasoning crust and a separate Tequila, Coconut and Lime sauce packet applied at the end of cooking.
- Multi X S.A. of Chile (booth No. 841) entered Latitude 45 Ceviche – a grab-and-go product featuring lightly smoked salmon cubes with ceviche-style seasoning and a spoon included in the packaging, requiring no preparation.
- St. James Smokehouse (booth No. 3253) is competing with SAINT Fruit Wood Limoncello Smoked Salmon, dry-cured and fruit wood smoked, then infused with Limoncello from Amalfi Coast lemons. Each 4-ounce pack delivers 24 grams of protein.
- Thunder’s Catch (booth No. 1739) entered Alaska Fisherman’s Cioppino, a fully cooked, shelf-stable stew built around wild Bristol Bay Sockeye salmon, shrimp and clams in a tomato and wine broth with fennel and roasted garlic.
Finalists were selected from products launched or introduced to the North American market within the past 18 months. The Seafood Excellence Awards also serves as the North American counterpart to the Seafood Excellence Global Awards at Seafood Expo Global in Barcelona and the Seafood Excellence Asia Awards in Singapore.
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