Norwegian Food Safety Authority finds dead salmon sorted as food at Mowi site.
The Norwegian Food Safety Authority (Mattilsynet) has identified serious breaches of regulation at Mowi’s Endal site in Bremanger, Nordfjord, after inspectors observed self-dead salmon being sorted for human consumption on board a harvest vessel earlier this month.
During an unannounced inspection on 10 September, Mattilsynet inspectors found that almost all fish pumped onto the vessel showed no signs of life, yet were being handled as if suitable for human consumption. The agency immediately issued an emergency order prohibiting further slaughter and sale from the operation.
“Fish that are already dead must not enter the food chain. This is about risk and bacterial growth on the fish,” said Geir Arne Ystmark, section leader at Mattilsynet.
The inspection was part of a wider series of unannounced controls on harvest vessels operating at the edge of net pens, according to broadcaster NRK. Breaches were also found at a Kobbevik and Furuholmen site in Austrheim, Nordhordland.
Mattilsynet inspectors monitored the sorting of 59 fish at Mowi’s site and reported that only three were discarded. Images taken at the facility also showed large amounts of dead fish lying at the bottom of the pen.
Mowi said it has suspended the use of the vessel and its operator, Sjøprodukt, but noted that it expects suppliers to comply with regulations. “It is totally unacceptable if already dead fish were not sorted out. It is at the same time our responsibility to ensure rules are followed, and in this case we should clearly have followed up better,” said Ola Helge Hjetland, Mowi’s communications director.
Ronny Larsen, managing director of Sjøprodukt, acknowledged mistakes but said no fish had entered the human food chain, claiming they were destroyed in consultation with the authorities. He added that crew had relied on bleeding tests to determine vitality, a method Mattilsynet said was inadequate.
At Kobbevik and Furuholmen’s Øksneset site, inspectors noted cadaver remains being pumped aboard the vessel. Managing director Ingebrigt Landa admitted shortcomings in training and procedures.
Both harvest vessels have since regained permission to slaughter and sell fish, subject to new conditions prohibiting the pumping of fish from the bottom of pens and requiring improved control and sorting.
Mattilsynet said enforcement remains challenging as slaughter operations on vessels are difficult to track. “We often do not know when and where vessels are slaughtering, or where the fish is delivered. The goal is to find a solution that makes it possible to follow the fish from slaughter to landing,” said Ystmark.
