Organic salmon standards under pressure after inspection report ruling.
The Soil Association has been ordered to disclose salmon farm inspection reports following a ruling by the information tribunal, after campaigners claimed that organic certification of farmed salmon may mislead consumers.
According to reporting by The Guardian, the tribunal ruled that Soil Association Certification must share inspection reports with WildFish, which has argued that labelling farmed salmon as organic amounts to greenwashing.
The Soil Association’s organic scheme is the UK’s oldest and most widely recognised certification programme. It defines organic farming as using methods that benefit environmental sustainability, animal welfare, and wider food systems. However, critics have pointed to provisions within its aquaculture standard that allow chemical treatments and farming practices they say undermine those principles.
WildFish has argued that organic-certified salmon are produced in a manner similar to non-certified fish, including the use of open-net pens and the discharge of waste and treatment chemicals into surrounding waters. A 2023 report by the group detailed the use of the pesticide deltamethrin at one organic-certified salmon farm on two occasions within a 12-month period, as well as the use of formaldehyde to treat fungal infections at several certified sites.
After a two-day hearing, the tribunal ruled that inspection reports should be disclosed under environmental information regulations. WildFish had first requested access to the documents in May 2024, triggering an 18-month dispute over disclosure obligations.
Soil Association Certification had argued that it was not a public body and that responsibility for disclosure rested with its delegating authority, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, Defra. It appealed an earlier decision by the Information Commissioner’s Office, but this appeal was dismissed by the first-tier tribunal.
The ruling could have wider implications for other organic control bodies operating under delegated authority in the UK food production sector.
Dominic Robinson, chief executive of Soil Association Certification, said the organisation had not sought to withhold information and that it already provided reports to Defra. He said the dispute concerned reporting channels rather than transparency itself.
The Soil Association is currently running a public consultation on strengthening its organic salmon standards, after warning last year that it could withdraw from certifying the sector unless environmental and welfare improvements were delivered by summer 2026.
