Compassion in World Farming has launched a Salmon Retailer Spotlight to shine a light on the transparency and robustness of UK retailers’ animal welfare policies concerning farmed fresh, frozen and smoked salmon.
The Retailer Spotlight will challenge retailers to demonstrate their commitment to welfare standards through their own policies, rather than relying on assurance schemes.
It will complement its Salmon Welfare Scorecard, which evaluates salmon producers’ public welfare policies on salmon, and use a smaller subset of the same criteria, focusing on information that most producers already report against.
The spotlight will evaluate six key criteria essential for the welfare of farmed salmon: humane slaughter practices, stocking density limits, fasting times, use of key welfare indicators, cleaner fish welfare and recirculating aquaculture system (RAS) policy.
It has examined the public corporate policies of retailers including Aldi, Lidl, Amazon Fresh, Asda, Iceland, M&S, Morrisons, Ocado, Sainsbury’s, Tesco, Co-op and Waitrose.
“Certainty and transparency are key to any corporate buying practice – while assurance schemes have their place, there is an over-reliance on using them instead of retailers developing their own robust welfare policies,” said Louise Valducci, head of food business (EU programme) at Compassion in World Farming.
“Certification can be very confusing for the consumer, and often critical welfare issues are not easily visible and possibly aren’t addressed or considered within the schemes,” added Valducci. “This Spotlight is a great aid in making consumer welfare considerations a lot simpler and easier to navigate.”
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The examination revealed over half of UK retailers’ policies (seven out of 12) state they adopt humane methods of slaughter.
Only Waitrose, M&S, Sainsbury’s and Co-op have a policy in place or adhere to a certification scheme that limits stocking density to 17kg/m3 or less. They are also the only ones limiting fasting practices to less than 72 hours for all types of procedures, while Tesco’s fasting policy is limited to only certain procedures.
Six UK retailers ensure welfare standards for cleaner fish in their supply chains, although most rely on farm assurance schemes. M&S and Waitrose are the only two retailers that have made a public statement to adopt more humane alternatives for sea lice treatment when available.
Over half (seven out of 12) of UK retailers acknowledge the importance of using key welfare indicators. However, only Waitrose, M&S, Sainsbury’s and Co-op publicly report on these measures.
M&S is the only retailer that publicly discloses that it does not use high stocking density grow-out recirculating aquaculture systems (RAS), and has no plans to source from these systems in the near future. Co-op and Aldi acknowledge there are no recirculating aquaculture systems (RAS) used for grow-out phase at present.
“Retailers must develop and uphold their own dedicated salmon welfare policies, providing consumers with clear information about the welfare standards of the salmon they buy,” said Valducci. “Through their policies, retailers can work with their suppliers to ensure the most impactful welfare criteria are captured, implemented and adhered to.”
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