Loch Duart turns to Oritain to protect salmon
Loch Duart wants to prevent fraudsters from passing off other salmon as Loch Duart’s.
Oritain’s testing measures trace elements that occur naturally at each farm and are absorbed by salmon raised there. Further analysis creates a unique fingerprint used to verify origin of the fish.
Oritain will provide Loch Duart with the food fingerprinting service to help protect its brand.
Rupert Hodges, Oritain UK executive director, said it can scientifically underpin the provenance story for Loch Duart’s 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,” he said.
“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.”
Loch Duart will be able to audit any stage in the supply chain and determine where the salmon being tested originates from.
The firm said it will be first fish farmer in the northern hemisphere to use the technology.
Producing around 5,200 tonnes per year it employs 115 people in the Hebrides and Sutherland.
Alban Denton, managing director of Loch Duart, said its salmon 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.
“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.”
