Having secured certification from the Soil Association, Mowi has harvested its first organic salmon in Scotland, from Loch Ewe.
The organic salmon, which is also certified to European Union organic standards and approved by Agriculture Biologique in France, will be sold in U.K. markets under the newly created brand, the Scottish Organic Salmon Company.
Mowi said that the new volume of organic salmon, combined with that produced by Mowi in Ireland, means it is confident it can supply organic salmon year-round.
All of the organic salmon from Scotland will be sold by the Mowi Organic team based in Ireland, with the company hoping that by increasing the supply, it can accelerate what is a relatively small market.
“From our 20 years of experience of producing and selling organic salmon, we know that retailers are reluctant to push it to the same extent as conventional salmon because there just isn’t the same guaranteed continuity of supply. Mowi has been confident of supplying organic salmon for nine months of the year, now with the additional Scottish organic volumes, we are confident that we can have continuity of supply 52 weeks of the year,” Mowi’s sales and processing director in Ireland, Pat Connors, said.
To achieve organic certification with the Soil Association, every step of the process of farming salmon must conform to criteria that is inspected annually, including feed milling, farming and processing.
The organic feed is produced at Mowi’s facility at Kyleakin on the Isle of Skye, and is regulated by E.U. legislation and meets the criteria for both the Soil Association and Naturland in Germany.
At the farm, the Soil Association mandates that fish stocking density must be less than 10 kilograms of fish per cubic meter, which is about 30 percent less than conventional farms. Anti-foulants cannot be used on nets and the use of medicines and pesticides is also restricted. Seabed sampling and analysis is carried out every year.
Organic salmon must be processed within strict timeframes and has to be the first product on the day’s schedule.
