Food agency casts net to catch salmon cheats

Published on Sunday 29 October 2006 00:32

FOOD safety experts have launched an investigation following fears that customers were being duped by unscrupulous dealers passing off farmed salmon as the wild Scottish variety.

More than 140 samples of fish labelled "wild" have been taken from shops throughout the country and are being tested for authenticity.

The probe follows the development of a new test by the government's Food Standards Agency, which for the first time can distinguish between farmed and wild salmon.

Farming salmon is one of the biggest industries on the west coast of Scotland. But concern that consumers are being misled arose earlier this year after the discovery in Ireland and the United States of farmed salmon being passed off as wild.

A spokeswoman for FSA Scotland said:

"Around 140 samples have been collected and are being analysed at the moment, with results due to be published in the spring."

The Irish investigation involved 90 food retailers, including hotels, restaurants, processing plants and supermarkets, and found that some fish producers were labelling cheaper farmed salmon as "wild". In the US, 10 out of 23 samples of fish bought by a consumer watchdog group and labelled as wild were, in fact, from farms.

Wild caught salmon can fetch three times the price of the farmed variety, which sells for around 10 a pound. Wild salmon is prized because of its supposedly superior taste and texture.

The new test can distinguish between the two varieties by measuring the fat content of the fish. Wild fish are leaner because of their more natural diet but this cannot be detected outside a laboratory.

Ken Hughes, a spokesman for Quality Salmon, which represents fish farmers in Scotland, welcomed the development of the test.

"We are producing a quality product that is among the best in the world and we do not want that reputation tarnished," he said.