Salmon farming company Loch Duart is harnessing scientific traceability to expose food scams and protect its brand.

The UK-based company has teamed up with Oritain, which uses its testing measures to trace elements that occur naturally at each farm and are absorbed by the salmon raised there. A unique fingerprint is used to verify the origin of the fish and prevent food fraudsters from claiming salmon is of an origin other than its actual source.

Alban Denton, managing director of Loch Duart, said: “If another salmon is ‘passed off’ as ours, consumers are being both exploited and misled.

“Our distributors have told us that it happens, now we’re partnering with Oritain to ‘police’ the supply chain.”

Audit control

Rupert Hodges, Oritain UK executive director, explained: “Our pioneering use of forensic analysis allows us to not only identify the country and region from which the salmon we test is from, we can actually trace it back to the individual farm.”

Loch Duart will be able to audit at any stage in the supply chain and determine exactly where the salmon being tested originates from.

It is the first fish farming business in the northern hemisphere to use the technology.