Gorton's Of Gloucester
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Gorton's of Gloucester is a subsidiary of Japanese seafood conglomerate Nissui, producing
fishstick Fish fingers (British English) or fish sticks (American English) are a processed food made using a whitefish or pinkfish, such as cod, hake, haddock, shark, salmon, or pollock, which has been battered or breaded and formed into a rectangu ...
s and other frozen
seafood Seafood is any form of Marine life, sea life regarded as food by humans, prominently including Fish as food, fish and shellfish. Shellfish include various species of Mollusca, molluscs (e.g., bivalve molluscs such as clams, oysters, and mussel ...
for the retail market in the
United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...
. Gorton's also has a North American food service business which sells to fast-food restaurants such as
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, and an industrial coating ingredients operation. It has been headquartered in
Gloucester, Massachusetts Gloucester ( ) is a city in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States. It sits on Cape Ann and is a part of North Shore (Massachusetts), Massachusetts's North Shore. The population was 29,729 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 U.S. Census. ...
, since 1849.


History

The company traces its roots to a fishery called John Pew & Sons. William Pew, son of John Pew, picked up fishing after serving as a Colonial soldier in the
French and Indian War The French and Indian War, 1754 to 1763, was a colonial conflict in North America between Kingdom of Great Britain, Great Britain and Kingdom of France, France, along with their respective Native Americans in the United States, Native American ...
. While most people moved West after the war, Pew turned eastward and arrived in
Gloucester, Massachusetts Gloucester ( ) is a city in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States. It sits on Cape Ann and is a part of North Shore (Massachusetts), Massachusetts's North Shore. The population was 29,729 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 U.S. Census. ...
, in 1755. The father-and-son fishery business emerged as an official commercial company, John Pew & Sons, in 1849. When nearby Rockport's chief industry, the Annisquam Cotton Mill, burned down, Slade Gorton, the mill's superintendent, was out of a job. At his wife's urging, he began a fishing business in 1874 which was known as Slade Gorton & Company, and began to pack and sell salt codfish and mackerel in small kegs. This company was the first to package salt-dried fish in barrels. In 1899, the company patented the "Original Gorton Fish Cake". In 1905, the Slade Gorton Company adopted the fisherman at the helm of a schooner (the "Man at the Wheel") as the company trademark. Today, he is known as the Gorton's Fisherman. In 1906, Slade Gorton & Company, John Pew & Sons, and two other Gloucester fisheries merged into the Gorton-Pew Fisheries. They made Gorton's codfish cakes a household name in
New England New England is a region consisting of six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York (state), New York to the west and by the ...
. The company went into the fish-freezing business in the early 1930s. In 1949, Gorton-Pew made headlines when it drove the first refrigerator trailer truck shipment of frozen fish from Gloucester to
San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...
—a trip that took eight days. In 1953, the company was the first to introduce a frozen ready-to-cook fish stick, which won the ''
Parents A parent is either the progenitor of a child or, in humans, it can refer to a caregiver or legal guardian, generally called an adoptive parent or step-parent. Parents who are progenitors are first-degree relatives and have 50% genetic meet. ...
'' magazine Seal of Approval. In 1957, Gorton-Pew Fisheries name was changed to Gorton's of Gloucester; in 1965, it became The Gorton Corporation, and it is now known as Gorton's. In 1968, Gorton's merged with General Mills, Inc., as a wholly owned subsidiary. In May 1995,
Unilever Unilever PLC () is a British multinational consumer packaged goods company headquartered in London, England. It was founded on 2 September 1929 following the merger of Dutch margarine producer Margarine Unie with British soap maker Lever B ...
bought Gorton's from
General Mills General Mills, Inc. is an American multinational corporation, multinational manufacturer and marketer of branded ultra-processed consumer foods sold through retail stores. Founded on the banks of the Mississippi River at Saint Anthony Falls in ...
. In August 2001, Unilever sold Gorton's and BlueWater Seafoods to Nippon Suisan (USA), Inc., a subsidiary of Nippon Suisan Kaisha, for $175 million in cash. In early 2005, the Gorton's fisherman was shown in MasterCard's "Icons" commercial during
Super Bowl XXXIX Super Bowl XXXIX was an American football game played between the American Football Conference (AFC) champion New England Patriots and the National Football Conference (NFC) champion Philadelphia Eagles to decide the National Football League (NF ...
, which depicts many food and cleaning advertisement mascots having dinner together. In late 2005 three environmentalist and animal-rights groups—the
Environmental Investigation Agency The Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) is an international NGO founded in 1984 in the United Kingdom by environmental activists Dave Currey, Jennifer Lonsdale and Allan Thornton. At present, it has offices in London and Washington, D.C. ...
,
the Humane Society of the United States Humane World for Animals, formerly the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) and Humane Society International (HSI), is a global nonprofit organization that focuses on animal welfare and opposes animal-related cruelties of national scop ...
(HSUS) and
Greenpeace Greenpeace is an independent global campaigning network, founded in Canada in 1971 by a group of Environmental movement, environmental activists. Greenpeace states its goal is to "ensure the ability of the Earth to nurture life in all its biod ...
—began a campaign "calling on Gorton’s to persuade its parent company, Nissui, to permanently bring an end to the hunting of whales" in the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary. In 2006, they announced, "our friends at seafood suppliers Gorton's, Sealord and parent company Nissui have withdrawn their active support for Japanese whaling."


References


External links

*
BlueWater Seafoods
Gorton's subsidiary in Canada
See Food Differently
, an August 2004 trade magazine story about Gorton's
Unilever sells seafood business
, an August 2001 article
Gorton's on Protecting their Resources

America's Oldest Seaport
, a short film about Gorton's and Gloucester


Whaling


Environmental Investigation Agency's report on Gorton's link to Japan's whale hunt.
{{Authority control Food manufacturers of the United States Seafood companies of the United States Frozen food brands Companies based in Gloucester, Massachusetts Food and drink companies based in Massachusetts Food and drink companies established in 1849 1849 establishments in Massachusetts General Mills Former Unilever brands 1968 mergers and acquisitions 1995 mergers and acquisitions 2001 mergers and acquisitions American subsidiaries of foreign companies Fish processing companies