Sainsbury’s under renewed fire over fish labeling claims

The Salmon & Trout Association (Scotland) has called on Sainsbury’s to explain why it is still selling mainland farmed salmon labeled as being from Skye, Lewis or Uist, almost eight weeks after apologising publicly for the error.

Hughie Campbell-Adamson, Chairman of S&TA(S), said: “The almost unbelievable state of affairs, whereby Sainsbury’s is continuing to pass off mainland farm-reared salmon as having come from the Hebrides, is bad enough. The claims of responsible management at the farms concerned, as Sainsbury’s puts it, to protect and maintain the natural environment, need to be justified. If Sainsbury’s cannot justify their claims, then they must stop making them.”

Earlier this year the S&TA (S) made a complaint to the Advertising Standards Authority and Trading Standards concerning claims made on Sainsbury’s ‘Taste the Difference’ Scottish salmon in relation to the geographical origins of the product and the unsubstantiated claims of “responsible management to protect and maintain the natural environment” at the farms concerned.

Sainsbury’s admitted errors in attributing their product to the “fast flowing sea water locations around the Isles of Skye, Lewis and Uist”, but the S&TA (S) has found that Sainsbury’s in England are still stocking ‘Taste the Difference’ smoked salmon from mainland fish-farms in Argyll labeled as being from Uist, Lewis or Skye.

Today, Sainsbury issued the following response: “We would never seek to mislead our customers and would like to reassure them that this error has had no impact on our industry-leading sourcing standards. All our salmon suppliers have environmental management systems in place and are independently certified to the GlobalGAP standard for good agricultural practice. They also all participate voluntarily in the scheme relating to the Code of Good Practice for Scottish Finfish Aquaculture. 

"We have changed the design of the packaging and this new packaging will be in store from the beginning of next week.”
 

Picture credit: © Crp | Dreamstime Stock Photos