Telegraph: "Selfridges forced to remove misleading sustainable salmon claims"

“No amount of greenwashing will alter the fact that salmon farming is inherently unsustainable. This victory is a shot across the bow of retailers who continue to make false green claims about ‘responsibly sourced’ Scottish salmon” https://t.co/yXXerQc963 @Telegraph @Selfridges

— Don Staniford (@TheGAAIA) December 7, 2023

The Telegraph reported (7 December 2023) (also reported via Yahoo News):

Selfridges has been told to remove misleading claims about the sustainability of farmed salmon sold in its flagship London store.

The retailer was forced to remove a promotional board from its Oxford Street fish counter this week after an intervention by Westminster City Council.

Customers had been led to believe that all farmed fish sold in the branch was “sustainable” and reared in closed-loop systems, which are usually located on land to minimise environmental impact.

The salmon, sold by Selfridges, is produce from Loch Duart, a fish farmer based in the Scottish Highlands. Its salmon has been served at Wimbledon and by celebrity chefs such as Rick Stein and Raymond Blanc.

Don Staniford, a veteran campaigner, had accused Selfridges of “deceiving” customers and pointed to a 2019 ruling by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) that Loch Duart should not promote itself as sustainable after it upheld concerns over the environmental impacts of fish farming.

Mr Staniford also highlighted that Loch Duart rears salmon in open cages located in coastal waters, leaving fish vulnerable to attacks and infection from other creatures, not contained systems as Selfridges suggested.

In a complaint lodged on Tuesday with Westminster City Council, Staniford said: “It seems clear that over four years later Selfridges and its supplier did not get the memo and enforcement action is required.”

‘Wounds, gashes and cuts consistent with seal attacks’

An environmental health officer assured Mr Staniford on Thursday that Selfridges had pulled down the board in light of his complaint.

In an email, the council official stated that Selfridges staff “are investigating the matter and have taken immediate action at my request to remove the claim”.

Mr Staniford welcomed the council’s intervention, adding: “No amount of greenwashing will alter the fact that salmon farming is inherently unsustainable. This victory is a shot across the bow of retailers who continue to make false green claims about ‘responsibly sourced’ Scottish salmon.”

In 2019, Fishy Business, an anti-fish-farming blogger, complained to the ASA that an image on Loch Duart’s website describing the company as sustainable was inaccurate because of the environmental damage caused by salmon farms.

The ASA ruled that the complaint was “valid” and asked Loch Duart to make changes. The company promised to stop claiming to be sustainable and the ASA closed the case without launching a formal investigation.

Mr Staniford said fish farming in coastal areas is not sustainable because many fish die from illness and disease. Farmed salmon can also be exposed to attacks by seals.

He claims to have uncovered mass mortalities at Loch Duart’s Reintraid salmon farm in Loch a Chairn Bhain near Kylesku in Sutherland during an investigation in August.

He alleges that video footage suggests “wounds, gashes and cuts consistent with seal attacks”.

Loch Duart declined to comment.

Selfridges has been approached for comment.

Victory: before & after photos of @Selfridges fish counter in London – 'sustainably farmed' sign removed after Trading Standards complaint! @CityWestminster @LochDuartSalmon @ScotlandSalmon https://t.co/yXXerQc963 @WildFishCons @onekindtweet #Sustainable #Salmon #Scam #Exposed pic.twitter.com/PRcDNkfsgU

— Don Staniford (@TheGAAIA) December 7, 2023

Here's a shorter version pubished in The Daily Telegraph (8 December 2023):

$camon $cotland's complaints to the City of Westminster Trading Standards and Direct Seafoods London (supplier of Loch Duart salmon to Selfridges) followed visits to Selfridges's flagship London store on Oxford Street in October and November 2023. In video footage filmed on 30 October 2023 you can hear Don Staniford, Director of $camon $cotland, questioning the use of the phrase “closed-loop” systems and suggesting that it is ‘illegal’. A manager at Selfridges came over and can be heard saying “OK” when it was suggested that the marketing was a breach of trading standards.

Video footage shot on 27 November 2023 shows the issue raised once again with the fishmonger and the offending marketing sign was pointed out as a breach of trading standards.

Video footage shot on 28 November 2023 shows a Selfridges’ manager passing the buck onto Direct Seafoods. “You can contact Direct Seafoods,” says the Selfridges manager. “They’ve told us it’s OK so we’re leaving it up. Talk to our supplier. It’s fine. Contact Direct Seafoods.”

Here is video footage shot inside Selfridges (Oxford Street) on 30 October 2023 – including the fishmonger’s sign now headlined: “Sustainably Farmed” including the false claim that Selfridges armed (sic) seafood is sourced from “responsible suppliers who operated fully segregated, closed-loop systems” and the incorrect reference to “sustainable aquaculture”.

Here's $camon $cotland's complaint filed with Direct Seafoods London on 5 December 2023:

I visited Selfridges in London in October and November 2023 and am concerned that there is a breach of trading standards in terms of deceptive marketing.

You can view the misleading marketing including the words 'sustainably farmed', 'sustainable' and 'closed-loop' at Selfridge's Oxford Street store and in this video: https://vimeo.com/890222689/6be72a88c3

You will see that Selfridges has passed the buck onto Direct Seafoods instead of taking responsibility themselves and correcting the deceptive marketing.

In terms of the specific breaches of trading standards, there are two mistakes;

1) Loch Duart's salmon is not sustainable – this was subject of a complaint to the ASA in April 2019 and was publicised via https://theferret.scot/loch-duart-sustainable-advertising/

2) Loch Duart's salmon is farmed in open net cages in sea lochs – not in closed-loop systems. That is obvious to anyone who knows their unsustainable and lethal salmon farming operations.

Please correct your misleading marketing and ensure that Selfridges stops breaching Trading Standards.

Please consider this a formal complaint.

Thanks,

Don

Here's City of Westminster Trading Standards confirming corrective action – following a complaint filed by $camon $cotland on 5 December 2023 – with the "sustainable", "sustainably farmed" and "closed-loop" claims now removed by Selfridges:

From: Goodchild, Philip: WCC <pgoodchild@westminster.gov.uk>
Date: Thu, Dec 7, 2023 at 9:14 AM
Subject: Selfridges Food Hall Concession – Sustainability Claim – Loch Duart Salmon
To: salmonfarmingkills@gmail.com <salmonfarmingkills@gmail.com>

Our Ref PR202312-76449

Dear Mr Staniford,

Thank your for your report in connection with the sustainability claim being made by a business concession within the Selfridges Store, Oxford St.

On receipt of your report I reviewed the material you provided, including the letter setting out the ASA’s informal agreement with Loch Duart Salmon.

I have been in touch with the technical team at the store who oversee food and consumer protection legal compliance with the numerous concessions in the store. They have confirmed they are investigating the matter and have taken immediate action at my request to remove the claim – see photograph attached.

I shall be advising the business further should it be necessary.

Thank you again for bringing this matter to my attention.

Regards

Philip Goodchild

Environmental Health Officer – Food Safety & Standards

Public Protection and Licensing

Westminster City Council

15^th Floor

64 Victoria Street

London

SW1E 6QP

Tel: 07815 664724

Email:pgoodchild@westminster.gov.uk

Caught on Camera Lying: Selfridges forced by Trading Standards to remove false claims that Loch Duart salmon is "sustainably farmed" and "closed-loop" @Selfridges @LochDuartSalmon @seafoodlondon @CityWestminster @WildFishCons @ASA_UK @SalmonScotland https://t.co/9l8yjaa46T pic.twitter.com/HFOEr0gfxL

— Don Staniford (@TheGAAIA) December 8, 2023

When Scottish Salmon Watch visited Selfridges in November 2018 they were selling Loch Duart salmon marketed as 'the Sustainable Salmon Company':

The Ferret reported in April 2019 that Loch Duart had to stop marketing themselves as 'sustainable' following a complaint by Fishy Business filed with the Advertising Standards Authority:

The Ferret article – read online in full here – included:

Salmon Business reported (8 December 2023):

"Landmark UK department store Selfridges has been directed to remove claims about the sustainability of its farmed salmon following an intervention by local authority, Westminster City Council" @CityWestminster @Selfridges @seafoodlondon @LochDuartSalmon https://t.co/nGoW3LV15R

— Don Staniford (@TheGAAIA) December 9, 2023

Undercurrent News reported (8 December 2023):

Selfridges removed a claim about its salmon being sustainable at its Oxford Street flagship store after a complaint from an anti-aquaculture campaigner @Selfridges @CityWestminster @seafoodlondon @LochDuartSalmon @ASA_UK @undercur https://t.co/lN1nOCowgk

— Don Staniford (@TheGAAIA) December 9, 2023