February 15, 2008

Marine Harvest investigates the contamination of its salmon products
 

A recall on salmon products, produced by Marine Harvest's operation in Scotland, has been issued by supermarket giant Morrisons due to suspicions that the products could have been contaminated.

It is believed that the fish could have been tainted by white spirit, a common organic solvent used in painting, while it was shipped to Marine Harvest's processing plant at Mallaig, a port at Scotland's west coast.

The vessel used to transport the live fish from a farm is now under investigation by Marine Harvest.

Morrisons has pulled the products from its fresh-fish counters and pre-packed chillers while urging customers to return any salmon and smoked salmon products with use-by dates of February 10-13.

The Food Standards Agency (FSA) issued an alert yesterday afternoon, giving details of affected products. Morrisons had informed FSA about the incident after receiving about 50 customer complaints.

A FSA spokesman said they currently do not have adequate information to conduct a formal risk assessment but according to an analysis report, the chemicals involved are at low levels so it is unlikely to be harmful which makes it a quality rather than safety problem.

A spokesman for Marine Harvest said all of the company's customers have been notified of the situation, and that they are investigating the cause of the taint in cooperation with the authorities. The company believes the taint is related to the harvest process rather than the growing farms, he said.

The spokesman added that as a precautionary measure, the company have stopped using a well boat that is used to collect live fish from a farm for processing at Mallaig.

A spokesman for Highland Council confirmed that the local health department was aware of the situation but refuses to comment any further as they are still waiting for laboratory results.

Based in Norway, Marine Harvest is the world's largest salmon and trout production and processing company, with operations in Norway, Scotland, Canada and Chile.