Loch Duart steps up the fight against food fraudsters

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Loch Duart steps up the fight against food fraudsters

Independent salmon farm harnesses scientific traceability to expose seafood scams

Loch Duart, the independent salmon farming company based in Sutherland and the Hebrides, is taking the fight to food fraudsters to protect the reputation of its world renowned salmon.

The independent salmon farm business has teamed up with Oritain, experts in scientifically proving the origin of food products, to prevent food fraudsters from passing off other salmon as Loch Duart’s.

With many of the world’s top restaurants and fish wholesalers asking for Loch Duart salmon by name, there is a risk that unscrupulous suppliers try to represent other salmon as Loch Duart. Oritain’s testing measures trace elements that occur naturally at each farm and are absorbed by the salmon raised there. Further analysis creates a unique fingerprint that is then used to verify the origin of the fish.

It is estimated that food fraud affects at least 10% of the global food supply chain at a cost to the industry in excess of $50 billion per year.

From 2018, Oritain will provide Loch Duart with this independent food fingerprinting service, with its origins in forensic science, to help protect its brand. This means that Loch Duart will now be able to audit at any stage in the supply chain and determine exactly where the salmon being tested originates from. Loch Duart will be first fish farmer in the northern hemisphere to use this leading technology.

Alban Denton, Managing Director of Loch Duart, said:

“Loch Duart’s really proud of our extraordinary tasting salmon which is asked for by name worldwide. If another salmon is ‘passed off’ as ours, consumers are being both exploited and misled. Our distributors have told us that it happens, now we’re partnering with Oritain to ‘police’ the supply chain. We’re determined to do everything we can to protect our world renowned brand and ensure that when people ask for Loch Duart salmon they can be completely certain this is what they are getting.

“Consumers must get what they order and what they are paying for! Oritain’s forensic approach to scientifically fingerprinting the origin of our fish means that we can verify the origin of our fresh salmon – wherever the consumers are in the world.”

Oritain UK Executive Director, Rupert Hodges, said:

“Oritain works hard to protect the reputations of some of the world’s leading brands. We’re therefore delighted to be able to scientifically underpin the provenance story for Loch Duart’s world renowned salmon. Our pioneering use of forensic analysis allows us to not only identify the country and region from which the salmon we test is from, we can actually trace it back to the individual farm. This means that from now on customers across the globe, can be assured that when they buy Loch Duart salmon, we can prove that it is what they are getting.” …Ends

For more information on Loch Duart Salmon visit www.lochduart.com

For more information on Oritain visit www.oritain.com

Further enquiries for Loch Duart: Graeme Thomson, Spreng Thomson

M: +44 (0)7774 546909 E: [email protected]

Editors Notes:

Loch Duart Ltd is an independent Scottish salmon farm based in North West Scotland founded on the principle of farming in a sustainable manner, while making no compromise in its aim to produce the best tasting salmon available.
Producing around 5,200 tonnes per year, it employs 115 people in the Hebrides and Sutherland.
The salmon is sold to leading hotels, restaurants and retailers across the world.
Loch Duart’s unique farming methods include low density farming, a unique rotational fallowing system, swim-throughs and feed from sustainable sources to ensure lean, fit fish.
Loch Duart’s industry leading innovations include:
The first fish farm in the world to achieve RSPCA Freedom Food approval.
Loch Duart’s unique strategy of long term rotational fallowing optimised for each sea site according to conditions and fish numbers.
In 2004, specifying sustainably sourced marine ingredients from traceable, identifiable lots for its salmon feed.
Inventing a drum filter which can filter sea water down to 100 micron to collect any parasites and their eggs in the heavy water flows taken from the pens.
In 2015 securing a source of capelin ‘trimmings’ for all the company’s fishmeal requirements to enhance the sustainability and quality criteria of Loch Duart salmon feed.
Practicing ‘environmental enrichment’ in their fresh water operations to stimulate the young salmon and improve welfare.

 

About Oritain

Oritain is a global leader in using forensic science to determine food, fibre and pharmaceutical provenance. It exists to protect the reputations of its customers by identifying and mitigating well-known risks in the supply chain.
The Oritain difference is they trace the actual products, not packaging or labels. Packaging has proven unreliable and is very susceptible to counterfeiting. By testing actual products, Oritain can offer a robust solution for businesses. The method is underpinned by over 30 years of scientific literature and is widely accepted around the world.
Oritain is a private company with offices in Dunedin, Sydney and London. They boast leaders in the fields of chemistry and statistics who ensure delivery of innovative, effective and robust solutions.
Founded in 2008, Oritain works with some of the finest producers to protect their brands from fraud in markets all around the world.