Posted on March 04, 2020
Tasmanian ocean trout will soon appear on the menus of some of the world’s most prestigious restaurants after Petuna Aquaculture was unveiled as one of seven new suppliers to worldwide distributor Longino and Cardenal at a gala event in Milan.
Longino and Cardenal sources premium quality products in small batches for a network of global customers, including most of Italy’s famous Michelin-starred restaurants.
The Italian company’s interest in Petuna’s ocean trout came as a surprise to the producer, when company representatives from Italy arrived virtually unannounced in Tasmania to see for themselves how the fish are grown and processed. What they learnt was enough to invite Petuna to become one of this year’s seven new global suppliers to the famous firm of prestige food distributors.
Petuna’s Chief Executive, Ruben Alvarez, said the announcement at Longino and Cardinal’s 2020 Convention was an exciting milestone for the company.
“Longino and Cardenal only markets the best, highest quality and unique provenance products, so to be included in this rare club is an honour and a testament of the high-quality to which we aspire,” Mr Alvarez said.
“Our main focus is quality, from eggs to harvest. It’s not luck, we are doing the right things to develop a high-quality product, and we are delighted a market as demanding as the Italian chose our product.”
“We are the first Tasmanian product to be sourced by Longino and Cardenal, but hopefully this now opens the door for other premium Tasmanian products to be shared with the rest of the world.”
Head of Sales for Petuna’s parent company Sealord, Jason Rengger, attended the announcement event alongside Tasmanian chef and owner of boutique Hobart eatery Sonny, Matt Breen, who prepared Petuna’s ocean trout dish for the 220 people in attendance, including Longino and Cardenal’s staff, their extensive agent network, managers from Hong Kong, Dubai and New York, as well as key Italian food writers.
Mr Rengger said he was delighted to have the opportunity to showcase Petuna’s high-quality seafood and other Tasmanian ingredients to an audience with such a refined interest in food.
“Matt’s impressive dish used 100% Tasmanian ingredients, which included sugar cured Petuna ocean trout, Tasmanian wasabi crème fraiche, chilli ginger oil and fresh fennel salad,” Mr Rengger said.
“Tasmania offers some of the most rare, luxurious products in the world, and Matt wanted to showcase these alongside the hero, which was of course Petuna’s ocean trout,” he said.
Longino and Cardinal’s Chief Executive, Riccardo Uleri, visited Petuna’s sites in January and was impressed not only by the high-quality product, but also with the company’s rich Tasmanian history.
“This year’s products are, as always, very interesting,” Mr Uleri told Italian media outlet, Italia a Tavola.
Other new products announced at the 2020 Conference included wild mallard, red deer and Pheasant, from Scottish family-run company, Braehead Foods and American Black Angus from Platte Valley.