Leading French fish smokers are signing up to a new charter this month that will see their products emblazoned with a Smoked in France label.
Labeyrie, Bretagne Saumon, Capitaine Cook and Delpierre are among the 11 members of the country’s smoked salmon and trout union supporting the charter. The appetite for smoked salmon and trout continues to grow in France — Europe’s biggest in terms of production and consumption — with households last year upping their consumption of smoked salmon by 7.3 percent, in terms of volume.
“In the last 10 years consumption of smoked salmon has expanded to the widest number of consumers, with seven out of 10 French households buying smoked salmon in a year,” said the STF, France’s smoked salmon and trout union, citing data from the country’s statistics tracker, INSEE.
Meeting growing demand, French smokers last year produced about 31,000 metric tons of smoked salmon, up 7.9 percent from 2008. Combined with smoked trout — at a far smaller 2,400 metric tons — smoked fish chalked up a turnover of EUR 512 million for the firms.
And in 2009, France imported some 5,775 metric tons of smoked salmon and trout and exported 4,079 metric tons.
But seeking to expand market share by tapping into “made in France” sentiments, signatories to the new five-point STF charter — with accompanying on-pack label — guarantee the fish has been smoked in France following strict best-practice guidelines validated by the country’s food directorate (the Direction Générale de l’Alimentation).
In addition, the charter articulates sustainable and environmental concerns as well as those relating to health and nutrition, such as limiting salt to a level that is sufficient to conserve the fish.
According to the STF, French firms worked with 68,000 metric tons of raw material (whole fish) last year, split between 61,500 metric tons of salmon and 6,500 metric tons of trout. About 89 percent of the trout hailed from French fish farms.
In terms of salmon, the largest chunk (69 percent) is imported from Norway, with 20 percent from Scotland and 6 percent from Ireland.
Only a minority (4 percent) of salmon used by French smokers is wild.
