– There was mass death when we arrived. To us it appeared as if they pumped fish on board that was already dead and slaughtered it, says section chief Lennart Floyd Berge in the Norwegian Food Safety Authority to news. It is about the conditions for farmed salmon at one of the facilities of the fishing giant Lerøy Seafood. Berge emphasizes that fish that end up on dinner plates must be alive before being slaughtered. – An overall assessment meant that we imposed a ban on continued slaughter and trading of the fish for humane food, he says. – We take a serious view of the deviations and the findings made during the Norwegian Food Safety Authority’s supervision at our service provider Seivik, says general manager Harald Larssen in Lerøy Midt. The discovery came when the Norwegian Food Safety Authority launched an action against the farming industry in September. The Norwegian Food Safety Authority goes on a trip along the Norwegian coast to investigate the conditions under which farmed fish live. Lifeless and self-dead fish were, according to the Norwegian Food Safety Authority, on their way to being bled and slaughtered for further processing into food products. The Norwegian Food Safety Authority’s findings along the Trøndelag coast are not encouraging. news can tell that sick and self-dead salmon from one of the world’s largest salmon farmers was about to be slaughtered to become human food, according to the Norwegian Food Safety Authority. Unannounced action On the afternoon of Thursday 21 September, a vessel from the Coast Guard is heading north along the coast outside Trøndelag. It is 13.8 degrees in the air, it has stopped raining and the wind is blowing from the southwest. Three inspectors from the Norwegian Food Safety Authority are on board the Coast Guard ship. The inspectors are in the process of carrying out unannounced inspections of slaughter ships used by the breeders. During the cruise, the inspectors have found deviations and breaches of regulations on all ships that engaged in emergency slaughter at fish farms. BLUGGING BOAT: Used for blogging fish after deworming. It was this vessel that was in the process of picking up dead fish from the Lerøy facility. The vessel can take 35 tonnes of fish. Photo: Seivik AS Just after 5pm this Thursday, the vessel heads towards the beautiful island of Hitra, where one of the world’s largest fishing groups, Lerøy Seafood, has several fish farms. The sun breaks through the cloud layer, and the clouds in the sky are pink. For the inspectors, this is the last inspection of the day. And here at Reitholmen in Hitra, the Norwegian Food Safety Authority’s people discover that things are not as they should be. The slaughter vessel Seivik is located at the breeding facility. Through a hose, they suck up salmon from the bottom of the farm. Usually, the fish must then be slaughtered on board before being transported to the Lerøy factory on land. There it is processed before being sent out on the market, to grocery stores, restaurants and hotels in Norway and in 80 countries. But this salmon never gets that far. Photo: Norwegian Food Safety Authority Immediate ban Because the fish in the cage do not splash as live fish should. The salmon is not as it should be. The fish are dead or dying. The Norwegian Food Safety Authority immediately introduces a slaughter ban. The ban comes into effect then and there this afternoon while the inspectors are on board the slaughter vessel Seivik. In the report from the Norwegian Food Safety Authority, which news has gained access to, it is stated: “When we arrived, a high mortality rate was observed in the cage. You pumped in fish from the bottom of the cage which appeared to be lifeless and without gill activity, and which were intended for further processing for human consumption.” Lifeless and self-dead fish were to be processed and sold as if they were fresh fish to consumers. The plan was for this fish to end up on dinner plates, says the Norwegian Food Safety Authority. FOOD FOR THE PEOPLE: The Norwegian Food Safety Authority thought the salmon that died by itself at the Lerøy facility should be sold in shops Photo: Lerøy But both Lerøy and the subcontractor refute this. – The fish must be alive, we have no indication that fish that was delivered or sorted on board was self-dead. But we had deviations in relation to normal procedure when it comes to how to handle it, says general manager Arne Bakke. Together with his brothers, Bakke is the owner of Br. Bakke who owns the vessel Seivik. When the Norwegian Food Safety Authority came to check, the company had been carrying out emergency slaughter of fish at Lerøy’s facility for nine days, according to the Norwegian Food Safety Authority’s report. Fish in three cages were sick and were therefore emergency slaughtered. The fish in these cages have diseases such as PD, CMS and gill irritation. Two of the cages had already been emptied when the inspectors arrived at the facility. The amount of salmon Seivik had to slaughter was large. There are clear requirements for both animal welfare, slaughter and pollution in the farming industry. Sick fish can become food for humans, but not fish that have already died from disease or injury, according to the legislation. STOPPED: Section chief Lennart Floyd Berge in the Norwegian Food Safety Authority stopped the slaughter of fish at a Lerøy facility Photo: Ivar Lid Riise / news “Immediate danger for fish welfare” The report from the Lerøy facility also states: “There are clear violations of the regulations. The reason for the ban is, among other things, that you took on board fish that has died by itself. It is not allowed to sell such fish for human consumption.” The Norwegian Food Safety Authority also introduces a ban on selling the fish further in the food supply chain. The strict sanctions are being introduced because the Norwegian Food Safety Authority found a number of breaches of food legislation. In addition, the inspectorate believes that there was a breach of the Food Act as well as a breach of the aquaculture animal regulations and regulations on slaughterhouses and processing facilities. Gross violations of the regulations for safe food and conditions that are not in line with the requirements for good fish welfare were found, it appears. The report further states: “There was an immediate danger to fish welfare and to food safety.” Lerøy plant The deviations and violations of the law found by the Norwegian Food Safety Authority relate to salmon from the fishing giant Lerøy Seafood Group. But it is the subcontractor Seivik who is the addressee of the bans on slaughter and resale. – Those on the vessel said that they were there on assignment from Lerøy and that that was where the fish was to be delivered. We understood that the intention was for the fish to be delivered as fish for consumption. Fish that is already dead is not legal as food for humans, says section chief Lennart Floyd Berge. The management in Lerøy rejects that the fish should become consumer food. They say that after the campaign they are investigating the causes of the incident at the company’s cages. – On the basis of this, we have initiated a process where we aim to uncover causal relationships and, on the basis of this, take measures to ensure that the practice of using this type of vessel is in accordance with the requirements for this type of operation. The vessel will not be put into service until this is completed, says general manager Harald Larssen in Lerøy Midt. BUTCHER FISH: General manager Arne Bakke in Seivik. He owns the company with his three brothers. The company specializes in butchering fish and works for Lerøy Seafood. Photo: Bro. Bakke/Seivik General manager Arne Bakke in Seivik also emphasizes that the company must have better routines. – We go through procedures and methods and strive to improve them, says Bakke. The Norwegian Food Safety Authority has closed Seivik, and the company must provide the Norwegian Food Safety Authority with information on what happened to the dead fish and what measures have been introduced before the restrictions are lifted. Food safety The Lerøy manager emphasizes that food safety has the highest priority in the group and rejects that they do not have good enough control over the fish that is to be sold as food to people. – We have control barriers at our slaughterhouse which ensure that fish that are not suitable for human consumption are sorted out before further processing, he emphasises. HUGE PROFITS: Lerøy Seafood has a billion dollar profit on the sale of, among other things, farmed salmon. Here is CEO Henning Beltestad at a presentation of the company’s results in 2022. Photo: NTB But the company’s respondents do not answer questions about how they can possibly manage to uncover whether the salmon they get from slaughter ships such as Seivik has been handled according to the regulations. The group describes itself as follows in the annual report for 2021: “The group’s values of openness, honesty, responsibility and creativity shall form the basis of all our activities. These form the basis for achieving our goal of creating the world’s most efficient and sustainable value chain for seafood.” Two weeks after a ban on the slaughter and sale of salmon from this Lerøy facility was introduced, the Norwegian Food Safety Authority called the actors in the seafood industry to a meeting. The topic was the incident on several slaughter ships, including the discoveries they had made at Seivik and Lerøy’s facilities. Videos of the dead fish were shown to the actors. The Norwegian Food Safety Authority will prioritize cleaning up illegalities in the farming industry. – The industry is responsible for catching fish and slaughtering fish in a good and safe way. What we have discovered in our inspections now is that the industry has settled on a way of collecting fish from cages that is not in accordance with the regulations and approvals. They retrieve fish from a greater depth and there it is a different environment and where there are dead fish and you get an insight into live fish, says Lennart Floyd Berge
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The Norwegian Food Safety Authority believes that sick and self-dead salmon should be sold as fresh food fish – news Norway – Overview of news from different parts of the country
