Sainsbury’s wrongly labels salmon as from Hebrides 20/5/13
Supermarket chain Sainsburys has been wrongly claiming farmed salmon was grown int he fast flowing waters of the Hebrides when it actually came from Loch Fyne in Argyll, hundreds of miles away on the mainland.
Sainsbury admitted the labelling “error” after it was reported to the Advertising Standards Authority and Trading Standards by the Salmon and Trout Association Scotland (S&TAS) today.
The body complained about “erroneous claims” made for its Taste the Difference farmed salmon.
The S&TAS said salmon was marketed as reared in sheltered, fast-flowing seawater
locations around Skye, Lewis and Uist.
A S&TAS spokesman said: “In fact, the individual farms specified on the packaging
are all located in rather less fast-flowing locations in Loch Fyne in Argyll, on
the mainland of Scotland.”
He maintained Loch Fyne suffered from excess sea lice and from the residue of parasite
treatment chemicals as well as “escapes of farmed fish, unsatisfactory organic pollution
of the sea-bed with uneaten food and faeces and farmed salmon diseases.”
He added: “Sainsburys website also says that its supplier of salmon is Marine Harvest. In fact, the farms listed are owned and operated by The Scottish Salmon Company, one of Marine Harvests main competitors.”
He added: “The Sainsburys packaging states that the salmon is responsibly sourced although there is no explanation as to what responsibly sourced means.”
S&TAS claimed all supermarkets should be more transparent about the food they sell and publish weekly data about disease levels from the fish farm sources.
A Sainsbury spokeswoman said: "We are very proud of our record on responsible sourcing of fish; Sainsbury's is the country's largest retailer of RSPCA Freedom Food Salmon and all our Scottish Salmon is farmed to a number of independent standards.
“Unfortunately, there has been an error in the information on the packaging of some of our Taste the Difference salmon products in recent months.
“We are now resolving this and sincerely apologise to customers, who can be reassured
that there has been no impact on our industry-