Scottish salmon producers allowed to remove ‘farmed’ from front of packaging
Scottish salmon producers allowed to remove ‘farmed’ from front of packaging
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Government lawyers say ‘no need to include unnecessary pejorative words’ after campaigners appeal against change. Producers of Scottish salmon can drop the word “farmed” from the front of their packaging after government lawyers argued it was unnecessary and pejorative.
The government amended the protected geographical indication (PGI) of “Scottish farmed salmon” to “Scottish salmon” last year, after lobbying from the industry. PGI labels are used to communicate to consumers the authenticity of products known for the region in which they are made, such as Cornish pasties, Melton Mowbray pork pies and Stornoway black pudding.
The campaign groups Animal Equality UK and Wildfish filed an appeal over the change, warning that consumers were being misled about the “true origin” of the product. The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) responded that the term “Scottish salmon” identified “the true geographic origin of the product, Scotland, and consumers would not be misled in this regard”.
The government’s lawyers added at a tribunal hearing that there was “no need for the PGI to include unnecessary pejorative words” and that there was “no evidence before this tribunal or secretary of state of a product which includes pejorative language”.
The trade group Salmon Scotland justified the change on the basis that consumers already knew that Atlantic salmon sold in the UK was farmed, not wild. Dismissing the campaigners’ appeal, Judge O’Connor said the new label did not risk confusing consumers as to the breed of fish or where it was produced.
