Loch Duart extends fraud-beating sampling to America
Scottish salmon farmer Loch Duart is extending its use of forensic food analysis to north America to prevent fish from other sources being fraudulently sold as the company’s produce.
Loch Duart, which produces around 6,000 tonnes of salmon annually in Sutherland and the Hebrides, has been working in the UK with forensic food analysis expert, Oritain, for two years, and said in a press release that it was making significant investment to ensure the traceability of its fish in the US and Canada.
Oritain’s technology can trace fresh salmon samples back to the individual farm where the fish were raised.
Effective deterrent
Loch Duart sales director Andy Bing said: “We’re proud of our 20-year legacy, rearing extraordinary salmon, asked for by name around the world.
“Oritain can forensically identify the exact location of any fresh salmon sample they test and this has proven to be a highly effective deterrent for food fraudsters in the UK since we started working with Oritain in 2017. That’s why we’re now extending the availability of this analysis into North America.
“It’s another way we can reassure our customers in the US and Canada, that we are actively protecting the Loch Duart brand.”
$50bn problem
Oritain protects the reputations of its customers by forensically tracing the actual products, not packaging or labels.
Food fraud is currently estimated to cost the global food industry up to $50 billion, posing a real problem for chefs, restaurants and diners.
Award-winning Scottish chef, Mark Greenaway, who runs his Grazing restaurant in Edinburgh, said: “The ability to guarantee provenance is absolutely vital for creating our menus at Grazing.
“Having the confidence that when I serve Scottish salmon it can be traced back to the very waters in which it was raised is essential.
“I have a particular interest in the world-class array of Scottish produce that is available to chefs, so the traceability that Loch Duart provides shows just how much they value their brand and how much they care that chefs and their diners get exactly what they pay for.”
