Frozen Can't Be Fresh, Says FSA – Fishupdate.com

FISH that have previously been frozen may not be labelled as ‘fresh’, according to official advice given out by the Foods Standards Agency.

The food safety organisation’s announcement comes following the consultative period on its fish labelling regulations, which were originally published at the start of the year.

The new FSA advice suggests that “fish that has been previously frozen but which is sold unthawed would not be considered by the average consumer to be ‘fresh’. The term ‘fresh’ should not be used in these circumstances.”

The investigation focused on the usage of words like “wild”, “natural”, and “fresh”, as well as on the clear notification of the country of origin on fish products.

Commenting on the new advice, Brian Simpson, chief executive of SQS said: “Our submission suggested that previously frozen fish should not be labelled ‘fresh’ and we are delighted to see that the FSA has taken this on-board in its new recommendations.

“Scottish Quality Salmon has always been supportive of improvements to food labelling, in view of the fact that we felt some of the current terms are being misused,” he added.

SQS has campaigned strongly for the amendment to this latest piece of labelling advice in order to protect the quality image of the Scottish product, so that imported salmon could not be passed-off as the same product.