Spatializing Globalization: A “Geography of Quality” in the Seafood Industry

The sociospatial structure of global industries may be characterized by difference and plurality as much as by the coordination of practices over space. One important factor that shapes these dynamics in contemporary food industries is the quality of products. Challenging recent perspectives that define quality as an alternative to global, industrial forms of production, this analysis finds that quality is also important for industrial food production and for the global geography of the surimi seafood industry. Surimi, a fish paste used in a wide assortment of products, such as fish cakes and imitation crab, was once exclusively Japanese. Now, this industry is global in scope, with production and consumption encompassing sites across Asia, the Americas, and Europe. Interactions among types of products, market differences, processing strategies, and the characteristics of fish form fluid definitions of product quality that shape patterns of supply and demand within the global industry. Terming these spatial interactions a “geography of quality,” this article shows that differences in how quality is constructed influence the development of dynamic transnational trade patterns and new regional industries in each market. This changing geography of quality provides insight into the creation and maintenance of a geographically differentiated yet still global-scale industry. The geography of quality in this industry is such that relative dis-integration between different commodity chains characterizes the movement toward global-scale production and consumption.