Soil Association chief downplays reports that Scottish organic salmon could lose its status
The Chief Executive of the Soil Association, the UK’s leading body for certifying organic food producers, has downplayed reports suggesting that Scotland’s organic salmon producers may be about to lose their coveted status.
On Saturday, The Times newspaper reported on the Soil Association’s ongoing review of organic standards for the salmon industry, which was announced earlier this year.
The Times said: “The regulator has become increasingly frustrated with high fish mortality rates, environmental pollution and unsustainable feeding practices.
“Helen Browning, the Chief Executive, said standards had dipped so low that regulation of salmon farms — and the inclusion of its logo on organic packaging — had become “a reputational risk” for the Soil Association. She said trustees will make a decision over its future involvement in October.”
The article also carried quotes from those arguing that the Soil Association should not be certifying salmon farming at all – including Dale Vince, founder of the Green Britain Foundation and Craig Sams, former chairman of the Soil Association.
Over the weekend, however, the Soil Association’s Helen Browning posted a blog on the organisation’s website to clarify her position.
She wrote: “Whilst the sector has so far demonstrated capacity and willingness to grapple with these challenges and to meet the demands expected of organic standards, we need to be confident this will be done within a reasonable timeframe and that industry and government will respond at pace to current and future challenges to salmon welfare and environmental impacts.
“Soil Association must be sure that our standards continue to lead the changes needed which is why we have launched a formal review.
“We must be confident that organic certification can deliver a genuinely good life for farmed salmon, and that consumers can continue to trust what the organic symbol stands for.”
Browning said that the key question is: “Can we drive further improvement?”
She spelled out the tests that the Soil Association will be applying in its decision, including tackling unacceptable mortality rates, reducing and rapidly eliminating the most harmful treatments, ensuring genuinely high welfare, improving the sustainability of feed, and protecting sensitive marine environments.
’This is not an easy decision’
The Association will be meeting critics, scientists, welfare experts and industry representatives in a series of witness sessions over the coming weeks, with a decision to be made in October.
Browning stressed: “It is important to be clear about one thing: if the Soil Association steps away, organic salmon will not disappear.
“Other certification bodies would take on this role, applying the baseline standards set in UK and EU organic regulations. These baseline standards are lower than our own. In practice, that could mean that overall standards in the sector fall rather than rise.
“So the choice we face is not simple.
“If we remain involved, we have the opportunity and responsibility to push for higher standards and faster progress. If we withdraw, we risk leaving the sector to operate to a lower bar, with less independent challenge.”
She concluded: “There is misinformation being circulated about the current standards not being met, and we can reassure all consumers of organic salmon that we investigate and act on each and every complaint.
“This is not an easy decision, and there are no simple answers. But our commitment is clear: to ensure that organic standards continue to stand for the highest possible outcomes of farmed animal welfare, environmental stewardship, and integrity.
“We will take whatever decision best delivers those outcomes.”
In Scotland, two producers currently farm salmon to organic standards: Cooke and Mowi. Organic Sea Harvest, an independent farmer based on Skye which formerly also reared organic salmon, has currently fallowed its sites. Only 10 of the country’s 200 salmon farms are certified by the Soil Association.
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