A Salmon and Trout Association report raises serious concerns over the RSPCAs Freedom Food certification scheme for farmed salmon.

A new Salmon and Trout Association (S&TA) report into the RSPCA / Freedom Food certification of Scottish farmed salmon details major concerns over the failure of Freedom Food to take proper account of the wider environmental impact of the accredited farms. Worryingly the report exposes the fact that some farms with a dismal record on pollution and parasite control are still granted Freedom Food status.

The Freedom Food logo is used extensively on supermarket packaging for farmed salmon and on salmon farming companies websites as an indication predominantly of good animal welfare practice, but also of good environmental stewardship. Freedom Food certification of farmed Atlantic salmon is overseen by an RSPCA/Freedom Food farmed salmon working group of 19 members, 15 of which are either fish farmers or from companies with a direct commercial interest in fish-farming.

It is estimated that Freedom Food charges between 800,000 and 1 million per annum for farmed salmon certification (made up of a licence fee and per kg charge), but as there is no published list of certified farms, this figure can only be an estimate.

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Freedom Food Certification 'sets bar very low' for Scottish Farmed Salmon