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There's Nothing Fishy About The Sales Benefits Of New Lighting

A high-tech lighting company is giving seafood stores fresh and clean looking displays while dramatically increasing consumer eye appeal and sales.

Jamie Orr, Regional Sales Manager for Promolux Inc., says Promolux lighting offers tremendous advantages to seafood managers, including less product spoilage and an increase in customer eye appeal which impacts directly on consumer impulse buying.

"The gills of most fish should be reddish in color, whereas regular lamps can make them look gray, dull brown or white," says Orr. "With Promolux lamps the eyes of fresh fish look bright and clear, and do not look sunken or cloudy as occurs when fish are extremely sensitive to heat and often open up sooner under regular lighting."

Promolux lamps are specifically designed for specialized areas such as seafood displays. They provide a perfect balance of color output to reveal the highest contrast for each and every shade of natural color that exists in various seafood fillets and steaks. Promolux lamps are also approved in writing by health officials for applications such as seafood display.

"Under Promolux lights seafood fillets and steaks appear moist, firm and freshly cut, while the flesh appears almost translucent," another company official says. "And beds of ice that seafood is displayed on appear crystal clear," he adds. "It's a sign of freshness rather than a tinge of yellow."

Many retailers make the mistake of using general-purpose fluorescent lamps or spot lamps to illuminate their seafood displays, says the company. "The general purpose fluorescent lamps make even the freshest products look unappealing by casting an unflattering yellow-green hue upon them."

Also, ultraviolet radiation emitted from general purpose lamps actually encourage bacterial growth, enzymes, dehydration and oxidation, which break down product appearance as well as making firm tissue soft and mushy," says Orr. "UV heat radiation affects taste, odor, appearance and texture of seafood, making it smell ‘fishy' instead of clean and ocean fresh."

Seafood exposed through general-purpose fluorescent UV radiation can accelerate dehydration and expedite the melting of ice beds causing seafood to sit in melted liquid. UV exposure on seafood usually show photo chemical reactions on the surfaces of the steak and fillets, the company says. These lead to color changes: usually gray; thereby losing their fresh appearance. In contrast, retailers who are using Promolux lights, typically experience up to 50 per cent increase in seafood shelf life.

"Today, consumers are demanding premium quality freshness, and if they don't find it in your seafood display cases, they'll not purchase," Orr says. "Upgrading your lighting display cases to our Promolux specialty lamps will save you money by increasing shelf life and by increasing consumer impulse purchases."

According to the company seafood managers consider Promolux an ideal investment since in many cases extended shelf life alone will pay for the bulbs in a matter of a few weeks through reduced seafood shrinkage and improved sales.

Promolux was established in Europe for more than twenty years and for fifteen years in North America through its Canadian subsidiary, MGV Inc. Promolux manufactures lamps for many markets, in North America and abroad, so worldwide standards are maintained.

Promolux lamps are multi-coated with rare earth phosphors that are most often found in television picture tube coating. It is a more expensive coating process than used in making fluorescent lamps. Additional special coatings are used to control UV radiation and to protect the lamps from changing their faithful color reproduction. Additional technical information is available on the Promolux website at http://www.promolux.com.