Tesco's 'Scottish' Salmon Scam Exposed!

Following complaints filed with Trading Standards and the Advertising Standards Authority, Tesco has been forced into an embarrasing U-turn over their "100% Scottish Salmon" and "I'm Scottish" campaign – read exclusively in The Sunday Times: "Tesco in U-turn over ‘red herring’ of Scots salmon promotion".

An investigation by the Global Alliance Against Industrial Aquaculture and Save Our Seals Fund discovered predominantly Norwegian farmed salmon on sale in Tesco stores across Scotland – despite Tesco's 'Scottish' claims:

The Sunday Times reported (6 April):

Download article in full as a PDF online here

Here's a photo of a Tesco manager at their Corstorphine store in Edinburgh (29 March) removing Scottish flags used to promote Norwegian farmed salmon:

For more photos read GAAIA's letter to Tesco's CEO Philip Clarke (1 April 2014) - online here

Download information on breaches of Trading Standards by Tesco (21-30 March 2014) - online here

"Top management at Tesco recently admitted to me that only a small amount of their salmon is sourced in Scotland," said John Robins, Secretary of Animal Concern and Save Our Seals Fund. "Despite this they have saturated their stores with saltires, making their fish counters look more Scottish than Hogmanay and Burns Night combined. This is not just a red herring it is a blatant and very likely illegal attempt at misleading consumers into buying Norwegian salmon in the belief it is Scottish. I have reported one of their major West of Scotland stores to Trading Standards and trust they will take robust action against Tesco. It is bad enough that Scottish salmon farmers pollute our seas and kill our seals but to import Norwegian salmon while sending Scottish salmon to China and the USA just does not make sense. Tesco should not be putting up saltires – they should be giving their fishmongers Viking helmets and axes."

"Tesco's blatant breaches of Trading Standards makes a mockery of their claims to be promoting 'Scottish' salmon," said Don Staniford, Director of the Global Alliance Against Industrial Aquaculture. "The fact is that Tesco is guilty of flooding the UK market with cheap farmed salmon from Norway. Tesco's advertising campaign claiming '100% Scottish Salmon' and 'I'm Scottish' is a scam, sham and a consumer con. If 'Scottish' farmed salmon is such a prized product then why are UK consumers being fobbed off with cheap imports of foreign farmed salmon? Surely Tesco should be selling exclusively Scottish salmon not flooding their supermarket shelves with Norwegian farmed salmon?"

Only last month, a Sainsbury's TV advert took a swipe at Tesco for not sourcing from Scotland – watch the video featuring Nessie online here

Last year, Sainsbury's were the subject of a complaint filed with Trading Standards and the Advertising Standards Authority by the Salmon & Trout Association.

Tesco is the market leader for seafood in the UK with 25.9%, followed by Sainsbury's with 17.7%. Tesco's "100% Scottish Salmon" campaign was launched sometime earlier this year.