Scots duped by Norwegian salmon

Fifteen complaints were formally filed earlier this month (1 August) against supermarkets (Aldi, ASDA, Marks & Spencer, Morrisons, Tesco); the salmon farming sector (Grieg Seafood Hjaltland, Loch Duart & Loch Duart Artisan Smokehouse, Scottish Salmon Company, Scottish Sea Farms, Scottish Salmon Producers Organisation, Wester Ross Fisheries); and companies smoking and processing farmed salmon (Forman & Son, John Ross Jr, Edinburgh Salmon Company, St. James Smokehouse).

"Our complaints detail systematic consumer fraud and misleading advertising of farmed salmon products sold and marketed in the UK and internationally via online sales and marketing as well as in-store sales," states a letter to the Competition & Markets Authority (1 August) from Jenny Scobie, Chair of Protect Wild Scotland. "Consumer choice in the salmon market is being systematically eroded by deliberately deceptive marketing and misleading labelling which hides the fact that the vast majority of salmon is farmed not wild. Referring to the product as merely ‘Scottish salmon’ robs the consumer of the ability to make an informed choice to purchase wild or farmed salmon."

"Foreign-owned corporations are exploiting the world renowned and prized image of Scottish salmon – an iconic image of Scotland – to obtain a price premium,” continued the letter. “The hijacking of the name ‘Scottish salmon’ to refer to salmon imported as eggs and/or smolts from outside the UK and on-grown by a predominantly foreign-owned industry is product piracy and plagiarism (over 80% of the ‘Scottish’ salmon farming industry is now foreign owned with 66% controlled by Norwegian-owned companies)."