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Discover our ranking of the top seafood delivery programs and learn how each one works to bring fresh, sustainable seafood right to your door. Compare them based on seafood quality, sustainability, price and more.
Introduction to Seafood Delivery
Seafood is a nutritionally dense food group that is an important part of a well rounded diet. However, in the modern age, it is difficult to find sources of seafood that are both high-quality and sustainably produced. For this reason, several companies have been developed to create a more direct connection between consumers and their seafood.
Traditional Seafood Issues
The traditional seafood market comes inherently with several issues in sustainability, ethics, and nutritional quality. Firstly, commercial fishing operations are typically know for depleting wild populations, killing bycatch, destroying marine environments, and contributing to oceanic pollution. Additionally, commercial aquaculture farms are known for using strong antibiotics, parasite outbreaks, fish-based feed, and dyed products. Finally, traditional seafood comes with potential health concerns as pollution and bioaccumulation make higher-trophic fish like salmon and tuna prone to mercury and microplastic exposure.
While these practices do not apply uniformly to all vendors and sources of seafood, it is not easy for consumers to find information on sources from large scale grocery providers. In order to combat this, seafood delivery services use modern technology to sell directly to consumers.
How Seafood Delivery Works
The goal of seafood delivery programs is to shorten the supply chain between producers and consumers. Most of these programs have option that vary by size, measured in weight or servings; frequency, from bi-weekly to one-time; and species, from fish filets to shellfish and other seafood. You can often select a pre-curated box or make a custom one to fit your family's needs.
The seafood is shipped frozen so that it remains unspoiled as it travels across the country or sometimes the world. This shorter supply chain means there is less opportunity for it to be left out or partially unfrozen which can ruin the flavor of the seafood. Seafood delivery programs give you the opportunity to get higher quality food that is traceable to its source, something you don't get in a grocery store.
The Vitallist's Rating Criteria
When looking into candidates for this review, we considered several factors in weighting competitors in order to find the best seafood delivery programs. These dimensions include
Price
Sustainability
Nutritional Quality
Sourcing Practices
Customer Service
These dimensions cover a range of ethical and conventional standards, but it is important for you to make the best decision for you and your family.
Seatopia is a seafood delivery company that is leading the market in fish quality, sustainability, and consumer experience. They work with artisan farms that mirror a multi-level trophic system within their aquaculture including algal-based fish feed.
Details
Fish are lab-tested for mercury and microplastics
Filets are all sushi-graded
Their robust sustainability initiatives including a 'Kelp Reforestation Project'
The packaging is entirely biodegradable
Moving towards net zero emissions
Fish are flash frozen and shipped directly to your door
Select purchases comes with 1:1 lesson with culinary experts
Access to wide variety of seafood products and professional recipes
Sources are covered by up to 6 different 3rd party certifications
We ordered a Seatopia box to try it for ourselves. It was absolutely amazing. The products, the delivery, and the recipes were all excellent. We spoke directly with one of their chefs who gave us personalized advice on how to cook the specific fish in our box. They work directly with artisan farms that follow the strictest standards of sustainability, quality, and nutritional density, and you could taste the difference.
Use code TheVitalist for 15% of an order from Seatopia and get seafood delivered to your door. Read our full review of the company and their products here.
Lummi Island is a fishery based in Washington, USA that uses a traditional fishing method called 'reefnetting'. This method limits bycatch by combining active and passive net movements to avoid killing non-target species.
Details
Bycatch-free fishing practices
High-quality salmon and tuna
Wild caught and bruise-free
Flash frozen at peak freshness
Free Shipping
Solar powered operations
Wide selection of recipes
Overall, Lummi Island Wild gets a high rating for its sustainable, ethical and quality standards. Wild-caught always has the potential of mercury or microplastics, but reefnetting protects the fish from getting bruised and limits the potential for the fatal bycatch that plagues marine ecosystems.
To learn more about Lummi Island Wild and their offerings, check out their website.
Wild Alaskan Co. works directly with locals to source their seafood from high-quality fisheries. They emphasize their commitment to learning from mother nature in the rapidly evolving environment of health and sustainability.
Details
Fisheries are RFM certified
Compostable/recyclable shipping materials
Traceable sourcing to fair trade suppliers
Flash freezing and direct shipping
No artificial preservatives or coloring
Wellness guides and recipes included with select purchases
Free Serving with first purchase
Wild Alaskan Co. provides a direct source of seafood from various vendors in the Alaskan and North Pacific regions. While they are committed to sustainability, their review methods are less direct than other options and wild-caught fish may contain mercury and microplastics.
To learn more about Wild Alaskan and their product options, check out their website.
Good Chop is a virtual brand dedicated to being the bridge between producers and general consumers for both meat and seafood products. They work with both fisheries and aquaculture farms to have a consistent supply of seafood.
Details
No artificial antibiotics, hormones, or coloring
Free Serving with first purchase
Flash frozen and directly delivered
Farmed seafood is "mostly" ASC certified
Wild-caught seafood is "mostly" MSC certified
Something to note is some sources are only Seafood Watch Yellow grade which means there are sustainable practices, but they are inconsistently applied and monitored. Good Chop has no direct ethical or sustainability initiatives, but offer a money back guarantee.
Check out Good Chop using the button below. Learn more about MSC and ASC sustainable seafood certifications on their sites.
Sea to Table was started by the Sean Dimin with the goal of connecting family-owned fisheries directly to consumers. They aggregate, freeze, pack, and ship seafood all throughout the US and have a unique program where they periodically send samples to be DNA sequenced and verified as wild-caught.
Details
Free Serving with first purchase
Flash freezing and direct shipping
Recipes and cooking tips on their website
NOAA FishWatch Certified
Free shipping with select purchases
Recyclable shipping containers
Given that they deal with wild-caught fish, mercury and microplastics are a concern, and while the fisheries are certified by NOAA, the industry is plagued by traceability issues. Sea to Table has no direct sustainability initiatives, but offer a money back guarantee to dissatisfied customers.
Check out more on their website and build your custom seafood box today!
Butcher Box is another online brand that wants to be a bridge between meat producers and consumers. While they specialize in meat like steak, chicken and pork, they have some options for seafood including salmon, shrimp, scallops, and whitefish.
Details
Antibiotic free seafood
Both farmed and wild-caught options
Seafood is ASC and MSC certified
Free servings with select orders
Free shipping in recyclable containers
Some important things to note include that the wild-caught fish have a potential for mercury and microplastics. Additionally, the farm-raised fish have coloring additives. Their sources are all "sustainably managed", but this not given much elaboration and the company does not have any public sustainability initiatives. Butcher Box specializes in meats and steaks so it makes sense their seafood offerings and sustainability are less centralized.
Learn more about Butcher Box and their offerings at their website.
Seafood Delivery vs Grocery Stores
In all cases, getting frozen seafood delivered directly to your door almost guarantees that you are getting higher-quality and fresher fish than from your local grocer. This is because grocery stores can almost never guarantee that it has never been unfrozen because of the lengthy supply chain and poor tracking. Additionally, this means they cannot guarantee that is was sourced ethically and sustainably. These extra steps in between seafood production and consumption leave opportunities for decreases in product quality.
The scale that grocery stores leverage for lower prices is great for the average consumer. However, meat and produce are both areas where compromises in quality can have significant impacts on nutrition and health. That's why we recommend finding sources of meat, seafood, and produce that you know are fresh, high-quality, and sustainably focused.
Conclusion
While most product reviews will focus heavily on price, customer service, and value, we feel that looking at other metrics are more important when considering a business we are going to endorse and wholeheartedly support. Aspects like sustainability and product-safety are extremely important when considering a source for food. If you are looking into seafood delivery programs, you are already taking a step in the right direction for getting ethically-sourced and high-quality whole foods.
We need to respect the oceans and take care of them as if our lives depended on it. Because they do. - Sylvia Earle
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