Irresponsibly Farmed Scottish Salmon – Complaints Filed Vs Supermarkets with Advertising & Trading Standards!

Complaint to the Competition & Markets Authority and Trading Standards Vs Supermarkets (Aldi, ASDA, Lidl, M&S, Morrisons, Sainsbury’s, Tesco & Waitrose) for deceptive marketing of ‘Responsibly Farmed’ & ‘Responsibly Sourced’ Scottish Salmon (19 November 2021)

Hard Evidence Submitted with CMA & Trading Standards Complaint (19 November 2021)

The offending Scottish salmon products – marketed and advertised as "responsibly farmed" and "responsibly sourced" – can be found via:

The Scottish salmon products detailed above were bought in supermarkets on the Wirral (except Waitrose in Chester) in October and November 2021 and in Glasgow in November 2021.  The product lines are believed to be standard in-store merchandise which can be found in other branches of Aldi, ASDA, Lidl, M&S, Morrisons, Sainsbury's, Tesco and Waitrose.  They are certainly not viewed as special to supermarkets on the Wirral or in Glasgow. 

Our complaint to the ASA (in conjunction with Animal Concern) – which also includes hard evidence – is online via:

Complaint to the Advertising Standards Authority Vs ‘Responsibly Farmed’ Mowi Scottish salmon as advertised by Tesco & Sainsbury’s (19 November 2021)

In conclusion, we urge the CMA and Trading Standards – in collaboration with the ASA – to take enforcement action against Aldi, ASDA, Lidl, Marks & Spencer, Morrisons, Sainsbury’s, Tesco and Waitrose.

I have copied Wirral, Cheshire and Glasgow Trading Standards into this complaint. 

Please provide a receipt for this complaint.

If you have any queries please do not hesitate to contact me.

Thanks,

Don Staniford

Director, Scottish Salmon Watch

From: General Enquiries <general.enquiries@cma.gov.uk>
Date: Fri, Nov 19, 2021 at 10:03 PM
Subject: Automatic reply: Complaint Vs Supermarkets (Aldi, ASDA, Lidl, M&S, Morrisons, Sainsbury’s, Tesco & Waitrose) for deceptive marketing of ‘Responsibly Farmed’ & ‘Responsibly Sourced’ Scottish Salmon
To: Don Staniford <salmonfarmingkills@gmail.com>

Thank you for contacting the CMA. 

We will review your email and reply within 10 working days aiming to respond sooner where possible.  

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You can find out more about how we manage this by reviewing our Personal Information Charter.   

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In the meantime: 

• If you think you’re being treated unfairly or things are going wrong with a product or service, you can find out who to contact for help here. 

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• The CMA cannot provide legal advice or guidance on compliance with the law on an individual basis. We also can’t say whether a specific situation could breach the law. Information on how businesses can stay on the right side of competition lawand avoid unfair terms in sales contracts is available on our website. 

Thank you for taking the time to contact us. We rely on intelligence from members of the public to help us tackle anti-competitive behaviour and protect people and businesses from being disadvantaged by unfair practices.  

We’ll be in touch again soon. 

General Enquiries 

Competition and Markets Authority 

From: Celia Howarth <celiah@asa.org.uk>
Date: Mon, Nov 22, 2021 at 8:58 AM
Subject: RE: [External] Complaint Vs "Responsibly Farmed" Mowi Scottish salmon sold by Tesco & Sainsbury's
To: Don Staniford <salmonfarmingkills@gmail.com>, David Barber <davidb@asa.org.uk>

Dear Mr Staniford

Thank you for your emails.   I have forwarded both your emails to our Operations Team and asked them to raise a new complaint for you (I note you may have already passed a complaint through our system, so I will ensure they don’t duplicate this).

Your complaint will then be allocated to a Complaints Executive for their consideration.

Yours sincerely

Celia

Celia Howarth

Senior Complaints Executive

Direct Line: 020 7492 2119

Advertising Standards Authority

Castle House, 37-45 Paul Street

London EC2A 4LS
Telephone 020 7492 2222

www.asa.org.uk

Legal, honest, decent and truthful

 

Celia/David,

 

Thanks – on Saturday (20 November) I visited the Tesco store in Bidston on the Wirral and saw a display claiming that "All our fish is responsibly sourced".

 

 

There was MSC certified wild caught cod or haddock and MSC certified kippers I think but most of the fish in the display were farmed salmon from Norway (with no welfare accreditation mark or ASC-certification):

 

 

How can Tesco justify this advertising display?  Please consider this an additional complaint. 

 

I can provide substantive evidence, if required, that farmed salmon in Norway (like Scotland) are subjected to welfare abuse, toxic chemicals (including the banned neonicotinoid Imidacloprid), torture via Thermolicers and Hydrolicers, mass mortalities, infectious diseases, escapes and there is benthic and environmental pollution associated with Norwegian salmon farming operations. 

 

Tesco is misleading customers. 

 

Thanks,

 

Don Staniford

 

Director, Scottish Salmon Watch

 

 

 

 

From: Celia Howarth <celiah@asa.org.uk>
Date: Mon, Nov 22, 2021 at 9:45 AM
Subject: RE: [External] Complaint Vs "Responsibly Farmed" Mowi Scottish salmon sold by Tesco & Sainsbury's
To: Don Staniford <salmonfarmingkills@gmail.com>
Cc: David Barber <davidb@asa.org.uk>

Dear Mr Staniford

Thank you for this email, I have also forwarded this to the operations team who will add it to your case when allocated to an Executive.

Celia

Celia Howarth

Senior Complaints Executive

Direct Line: 020 7492 2119

Advertising Standards Authority

Castle House, 37-45 Paul Street

London EC2A 4LS
Telephone 020 7492 2222

www.asa.org.uk

Legal, honest, decent and truthful

 

 

 

From: Don Staniford <salmonfarmingkills@gmail.com>;
Received: Thu Dec 09 2021 12:30:48 GMT+0000 (Greenwich Mean Time)
To: General Enquiries <general.enquiries@cma.gov.uk>; General Enquiries <general.enquiries@cma.gov.uk>;
Subject: Re: [Official] CMA213680 – Response from Competition and Markets Authority

A report published by Seafood Watch on Monday (6 December 2021) is worth reading and provides supportive evidence to our claim that Scottish salmon – in particular Mowi salmon – is irresponsibly not responsibly farmed: Download MBA_SeafoodWatch_Atlantic Salmon_Scotland

 

The report on salmon farming in Scotland ranks three regions – Western Isles, Northwest and Southwest – as the worst in the world and rates Scotland as a whole as "red" (i.e. avoid):

Officially The Worst in the World: Scottish Salmon from the Western Isles!!!

 

The only region in Scotland which scores a "yellow" rating is Orkney where Mowi does not operate. 

 

Furthermore, the report published damning details of antibiotic use at marine salmon farms in Scotland between 2015 and 2019 (there was a 14-fold increase spearheaded by Mowi who accounted for 57% of antibiotics used): Named & Shamed: Increasing Antibiotic Use by Salmon Pharms in Scotland – just say no to drugs, say no to Scottish salmon!

 

Site specific data for 2020 and 2021 is not yet available (a cyber-attack on SEPA last year impacted operations) but the UK Veterinary Antibiotic Resistance and Sales Surveillance Report published in November 2021 (p49-51) details increasing use of antibiotics on salmon farms during 2020.  Download that report online here

 

Inside Scottish Salmon Feedlots is also questioning 'responsibly sourced' salmon (from Mowi's Hellisay salmon farm) sold by Sainsbury's – detailing high sea lice infestation: https://www.facebook.com/issf.org.uk/photos/a.571505336599210/1381136115636124

 

Please pass this information onto your investigations team.

 

Thanks,

 

Don

 

 

 

From: General Enquiries <general.enquiries@cma.gov.uk>
Date: Tue, Dec 14, 2021 at 9:35 AM
Subject: [Official] CMA213680-1 Response from Competition and Markets Authority
To: Don Staniford <salmonfarmingkills@gmail.com>

Classification: Official

 

Our ref: CMA213680-1

 

Dear Mr Staniford

 
Thank you for your further email which I confirm has also been passed to our intelligence team for consideration. 
 

Our intelligence team will look at the information you have given us. The CMA may also use its extensive information gathering powers if appropriate.  

 

Unless we ask you to, there is no need to contact the CMA about your enquiry or send us any more information. We will be in touch with you should we need anything further from you. 

 

For further help

 

We think The Food Standards Agency may be better placed to help.  

You can contact the Food Standards Agency by telephone on 020 7276 8829 (England) or 029 2067 8999 (Wales) or 028 9041 7700 (Scotland) or online at helpline@food.gov.uk(England) or walesadminteam@food.gov.uk (Wales) or infofsani@food.gov.uk (Northern Ireland). You can also find out more about its work at https://www.food.gov.uk/. 

For Scotland go to https://www.foodstandards.gov.scot/contact-us. 

We think the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) may be better placed to help you.

You can contact DEFRA by telephone on 03459 335577 or online at Contact Form: Defra Helpline.

DEFRA is responsible for safeguarding the UK’s natural environment and supporting the UK’s food and farming industry. You can also find out more about its work at www.defra.gov.uk.
 

 

Yours sincerely 

Bethany Skyrme (she/her) | Business Support Assistant | Strategy, Communications and Advocacy | Competition and Markets Authority
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