FAO’s State of World Fisheries and Aquaculture 2026 puts global trade in aquatic animal products at a record US$184 billion, now rivalling the international meat trade, with more than one-third of all production crossing a border before it is eaten (FAO, 2026). The two most valuable traded categories are also the least forgiving: salmonids at roughly 21 percent of export value, shrimp and prawns at about 16 percent.
The largest exporters by volume — China, Norway, Vietnam, Ecuador and Chile — mostly serve buyers in the United States, Japan and Western Europe, with product often crossing several borders before it reaches a consumer (FAO, 2026). Norway alone shipped 2.8 million tonnes worth NOK 181.5 billion in 2025 (Norwegian Seafood Council, 2026). Every handover is a chance for the pack to fail.
Regulators see the results first. Among 2,713 seafood notifications logged in the EU’s Rapid Alert System between 2011 and 2015, poor temperature control and hygienic state ranked among the main reported hazard categories (D’Amico et al., 2018). FAO separately estimates that some 35 percent of the global harvest is lost or wasted each year.
Three Things That Go Wrong Inside the Carton
- In-pack desiccation
Leaving empty space inside the wrapper and allowing fluctuations in storage temperature can cause the packaging material to become colder than the fish itself. As a result, moisture migrates from the fish tissue and condenses as frost on the inner surface of the package. Since the overall package weight remains unchanged, routine weight checks may fail to identify the issue. However, the fish continues to exhibit quality deterioration associated with severe drying. The FAO highlights that even impermeable packaging materials cannot completely prevent moisture loss when storage conditions promote desiccation.
- Thaw–refreeze cycling
Temperature fluctuation lets frozen product thaw slightly and refreeze. Large ice crystals form inside the flesh and physically damage the muscle (FAO, n.d.-b). Drip loss at the far end is the receipt.
- A shelf life quietly spent in transit
Storage life is a budget denominated in temperature. Cooked, peeled shrimp holds about five months at −18 °C, nine months at −24 °C and twelve months at −30 °C (FAO, n.d.-b). Packaging governs how fast heat reaches the product surface during every door opening, tarmac wait and cross-dock.
The EPS Box
Expanded polystyrene (EPS) is widely used for chilled seafood transportation because it is lightweight, water-resistant, impact-absorbing, and cost-effective. However, its insulation efficiency is not automatically guaranteed by the material itself and depends on factors such as design, thickness, and application conditions. Navaranjan et al. (2013) compared EPS boxes with varying thermal resistance to a box-in-box corrugated packaging prototype and demonstrated that the appropriate insulation requirement is determined by the specific transportation conditions rather than relying on conventional packaging choices.
Then there is the back end. EPS does not biodegrade; it fragments. A 2021 technical assessment prepared for Fidra reviewed replacement options for EPS fish boxes precisely because disposal cost and marine littering have become an unsolved problem in every exporting region (TAUW, 2021).
Audit Your Own Pack
Evaluate your packaging system by asking these five questions:
- How much empty space is present inside the primary wrapper?
- Is your insulation specification based on the worst-case ambient conditions expected during transport, or simply on the packaging used previously?
- What happens to the box after it is opened by the importer, and where does it physically move next?
- Does your barrier film effectively control oxygen entry, or is it designed only to limit moisture transfer?
- Can you identify the warmest location within a palletised shipment?
If the answer to three or more of these questions is uncertain, packaging may be the critical weakness in the supply chain rather than refrigeration performance.
Where TerraPHA Fits In
TerraPHA Biotech produces polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHA) through naturally occurring, non-GMO microbial systems, using a wide range of renewable carbon feedstocks. Its packaging line runs along multiple sectors.
PHA earns its place in a seafood pack for two reasons that apply on any trade route. Films made from it provide a useful oxygen barrier, addressing the fat oxidation that downgrades fatty fish in cold storage. And PHA is among the small group of polymers documented to biodegrade in soil, compost and marine conditions rather than persisting as fragments.
For an exporter, that means the in-pack problem and the disposal problem can be addressed with one material decision which is PHA films, liners and coated fibreboard replacing conventional plastic at the surfaces that actually touch product.
Frequently asked questions
Isn’t a cold-chain failure really just a refrigeration failure?
Not always. Reefer logs record air temperature in the container, not conditions inside the pack. In-pack desiccation and thaw-refreeze damage can both develop while container temperature stays within spec.
Does packaging really change shelf life that much?
Storage life for cooked, peeled shrimp roughly doubles between −18 °C and −30 °C. Packaging decides how quickly the product surface responds to any warm excursion, so it decides how much of that budget survives the trip.
What should an exporter fix first?
Headspace and seal integrity in the primary pack. That is where dehydration begins, and it is usually the cheapest thing on the list to change.
References
D’Amico, P., Nucera, D., Guardone, L., Mariotti, M., Nuvoloni, R., & Armani, A. (2018). Seafood products notifications in the EU Rapid Alert System for Food and Feed (RASFF) database: Data analysis during the period 2011–2015. Food Control, 93, 241–250. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0956713518303086
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. (n.d.-a). Food loss and waste in fish value chains. https://www.fao.org/flw-in-fish-value-chains/en/
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. (n.d.-b). Cold storage. Food Loss and Waste in Fish Value Chains. https://www.fao.org/flw-in-fish-value-chains/value-chain/processing-storage/cold-storage/en/
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. (2026). The state of world fisheries and aquaculture 2026. https://openknowledge.fao.org/handle/20.500.14283/cd8357en
Navaranjan, N., Fletcher, G. C., Summers, G., Parr, R., & Anderson, R. (2013). Thermal insulation requirements and new cardboard packaging for chilled seafood exports. Journal of Food Engineering, 119(3), 395–403. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jfoodeng.2013.05.042
Norwegian Seafood Council. (2026). Price growth for wild fish and increased salmon volume resulted in record value for Norwegian seafood exports in 2025. https://en.seafood.no/news-and-media/news-archive/price-growth-for-wild-fish-and-increased-salmon-volume-resulted-in-record-value-for-norwegian-seafood-exports-in-2025-/
Stublić, K., Ranilović, J., Ocelić Bulatović, V., & Kučić Grgić, D. (2024). Advancing sustainability: Utilizing bacterial polyhydroxyalkanoate for food packaging. Processes, 12(9), 1886. https://doi.org/10.3390/pr12091886
TAUW. (2021). Assessment of alternatives for EPS fish boxes. Fidra. https://www.fidra.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/TAUW-2021-Assessment-of-alternatives-for-EPS-fish-boxes.pdf
