Mislabelled salmon sill on sale in the UK

The UK supermarket, Sainsbury’s, still selling mainland farmed salmon labeled as being from Skye, Lewis or Uist, almost eight weeks after apologising publicly for the ‘error’, according to the Salmon & Trout Association, Scotland (S&TA(S)).

The organisation has again called on Sainsbury’s to justify its claims of ‘responsibly sourcing’ or withdraw them.

The S&TA(S) originally made a complaint to the Advertising Standards Authority and Trading Standards on May 20, 2013. The complaint concerned 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.

Almost eight weeks after Sainsbury’s admitted errors in attributing their product to the “fast flowing sea water locations around the Isles of Skye, Lewis and Uist”, 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.

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.”

The farms concerned are Rubha Stillaig, Meall Mhor and Tarbert South, all in Argyll.

English: Illustration of various salmon (Photo credit: Wikipedia)