nd doubts over responsible claims made for its Taste the Difference Scottish farmed salmon.The complaint is addressed to both the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) and Trading Standards as it relates both to the packaging of Sainsbury’s Taste the Difference Scottish farmed salmon products and the claims made about the products on Sainsbury’s website.
Packaging of Sainsbury’s Taste the Difference salmon bought in January and April 2013 states the fish are raised in sheltered, fast-flowing seawater locations around the Isles of Skye, Lewis and Uist. According to S&TAS the individual farms specified on the packaging are all located in less fast-flowing locations in Loch Fyne in Argyll, on the mainland of Scotland. Sainsbury’s website also says its salmon supplier is Marine Harvest. S&TAS claims the farms listed are owned and operated by The Scottish Salmon Company, one of Marine Harvests main competitors.
“The Sainsbury’s packaging states that the salmon is responsibly sourced although there is no explanation as to what responsibly sourced means,” according to S&TAS’s complaint. “Claims are made on the Sainsbury’s website about responsible sourcing that are ill-defined, but seek to afford the product credibility regarding environmental performance which cannot be verified by the customer, contrary to U.K. government guidance on such claims.”
“The S&TAS complaint shows that it is time for the supermarkets to take responsibility for what they are selling and how they market it. This complaint to the Advertising Standards Authority and Trading Standards is about Sainsbury’s and the claims made on its packaging and on its website,” said Guy Linely-Adams, solicitor to the S&TAS Aquaculture Campaign. “Sainsbury’s are not alone in failing to come clean about their Scottish farmed salmon products. Claims by other supermarkets of salmon being responsibly farmed or responsibly sourced are vague and inadequate. The supermarkets clearly know there is an issue here after all, we don't see responsibly farmed sweetcorn or tinned tomatoes on the supermarket shelves, do we?
