For many shoppers, the Soil Association logo on a pack of organic salmon has been a shorthand for a better-raised fish. That shorthand is going. The charity has decided to withdraw from setting standards for organic salmon, and its logo will be removed from organic farmed salmon on a timeline still to be agreed with the industry.
The decision follows a review lasting two years, which concluded that environmental and welfare outcomes were not meeting the Soil Association’s “high bar”. The charity has been developing and setting standards for organic salmon farming for more than two decades.
What the review found
The review heard from producers, aquaculture experts, scientists, policymakers, animal welfare experts and campaigners. It did not find that the standards had failed outright. Soil Association standards led to better practice across the whole salmon industry, organic and non-organic, including pre-slaughter stunning and net cleaning methods that avoid chemical anti-foulants. Organic sites also performed well on veterinary treatments, with the most harmful banned.
The problem lay elsewhere. Publicly available data on mortality and sea lice showed high mortality rates on organic sites that were not significantly better than non-organic sites in recent years. The review noted that many mortality events sit outside the sector’s control, with rising water temperatures leading to parasite outbreaks and disease. It also raised concerns about feed, because organic rules require as natural a diet as possible, which the charity felt meant too much reliance on wild fish stocks.
Helen Browning, chief executive of the Soil Association, said: “While our standards ensure lower stocking rates and prohibit the most damaging chemical treatments, the evidence suggests that welfare and environmental outcomes are not sufficient for us to continue.”
She pointed to new pressures from warming seas: “Furthermore, new welfare challenges like jellyfish blooms are emerging due to warming seas.”
Why a label matters
The interesting part of this story is what the charity is choosing to protect. Browning said: “When consumers see our logo on pack, they should be confident that organic principles are being safeguarded to the highest level possible within the constraints of a commercially viable system.” Walking away from a category is a way of defending what that logo means everywhere else.
It is a reminder that food standards are only as strong as the outcomes behind them, a point FEAST has followed in other parts of the supply chain, such as the supply chain standard targeting dairy emissions. Seafood has its own wider conversation about how fish is produced, which we touched on when UK chefs explored Norway’s blue food.
What it means for shoppers
Organic salmon is not disappearing. The standards within the GB and EU organic regulations still exist, so organic salmon will continue to be sold. What will change is that it will no longer carry the Soil Association logo, and the charity’s own Higher Standards for salmon will be withdrawn. Soil Association Certification will honour its client contracts in the short term while it agrees next steps, including a timeline for removing the logo.
For anyone who buys salmon partly on the strength of that symbol, it is worth looking more closely at the pack in the months ahead. The Soil Association says further updates will follow over the coming weeks and months, and more detail on the review is at soilassociation.org/salmonreview. Details via the Soil Association.
