Soil Association to withdraw from organic salmon certification
'Welfare and environmental outcomes are not sufficient for us to continue' says charity
The Soil Association, the UK’s leading certifier of “organic” produce, today announced that it will withdraw from setting standards for organic salmon.
It said that after an extensive two-year review it concluded that the sector’s environmental and welfare outcomes were not meeting its “high bar”.
“When we started working on salmon 20 years ago, we had an aspiration for an aquaculture system that could deliver the principles of organic production in the sea,” Soil Association chief executive Helen Browning said in a press release.
“We envisioned a multi-trophic, enriched environment which could provide the resources for a good life for salmon, with minimal negative impact on other species. However, progress along these lines has been negligible. While our standards ensure lower stocking rates (1% compared to 1.5% for non-organic Scottish farms) and prohibit the most damaging chemical treatments, the evidence suggests that welfare and environmental outcomes are not sufficient for us to continue.
There is a bigger research and development piece needed here which, as a charity, it is not our role to lead.
“Furthermore, new welfare challenges like jellyfish blooms are emerging due to warming seas. The salmon industry is dynamic and profitable and may well be able to innovate to deal with these emerging challenges. But we were not confident that the issues were likely to be resolved within a suitable timeframe through our standards. There is a bigger research and development piece needed here which, as a charity, it is not our role to lead.”
'We can no longer provide assurance'
Browning, a land farmer, said that when consumers see the Soil Association logo on a food item, they should be confident that organic principles are being safeguarded to the highest level possible within the constraints of a commercially viable system.
“This means being prepared to ask difficult questions and this is a case where we must act on the evidence when we believe we can no longer provide that assurance,” said the CEO.
The Soil Association said its review showed that Soil Association standards had led to improvements in organic and non-organic salmon farming, and that organic sites perform well on veterinary treatments, with the most harmful treatments banned and minimal use of the treatments which are permitted.
But there had been high mortality rates, which were not significantly better than non-organic sites, and mortality events “were often outside the control of the sector”.
Concern over feed
The Soil Association was also concerned that the organic standards to feed salmon as natural a diet as possible was resulting in too much reliance on wild fish stocks.
“The review had an ambition to progress stricter standards to prioritise marine by-products and trimmings. But challenges around these products led to a lack of confidence this was likely to be resolved fast enough,” the Association wrote.
The Soil Association hopes to remove its logo from salmon by the end of next year, but organic Scottish salmon won’t disappear, it will simply have a different label.
The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) is the UK Government department responsible for organic certification and the Soil Association Certification is contracted to carry out that certification to Defra standards, rather than its own, until the contract expires or it can can agree an exit.
A spokesperson for Salmon Scotland said: “We have been assured by the UK Government that our farms will continue to be assessed against organic standards with no loss of certification. Consumers can therefore continue to buy Scottish organic salmon with confidence.”
Agreeing a timeline
The Soil Association said it will now work with the industry to agree a timeline for withdrawal of its logo. Further updates will follow over the coming weeks and months.
Browning added: “We recognise the commitment, expertise and significant efforts made by producers, processors and others across the sector to meet our standards and seek progress. We hope that work will continue and are grateful to the sector for collaborating with us constructively through this review.”
The Green Britain Foundation, funded by vegan tycoon Dale Vince, today claimed the Association’s decision followed a campaign led by GBF that exposed cruelty and pollution on organic salmon farms.
“We went inside these farms and filmed what the organic logo was hiding. Then we dug into the data and the science. We built a file of evidence so strong the Soil Association could not look away and they acted,” said Vince.
A spokesperson for the Soil Association said GBF's evidence had formed part of the review "but is not the reason for the decision or for the review".
Vince has also called for the RSPCA’s certification arm, RSPCA Assured, to follow the Soil Association’s lead.
