The North-West Scotland-based salmon farming business has been working in the UK with forensic food analysis experts Oritain, for two years, deploying their pioneering ability to trace fresh salmon samples back to the individual farm and waters where the fish were raised.
Now Loch Duart is to expand its use of Oritain’s scientific traceability to ensure that when diners in North America are promised genuine Loch Duart salmon, that’s what they are served.
Loch Duart has low-energy sites in sheltered locations, facilitating natural approaches including the successful use of cleaner fish and minimal fish handling. They also have bespoke, high-marine content fish feed, unique to Loch Duart, which helps to give their salmon its sought-after taste and texture.
‘At Loch Duart we’re proud of our 20-year legacy, rearing extraordinary salmon, asked for by name around the world. Oritain can forensically identify the exact location of any fresh salmon sample they test and this has proven to be a highly effective deterrent for food fraudsters in the UK since we started working with Oritain in 2017. That’s why we’re now extending the availability of this analysis into North America,’ said Andy Bing, Loch Duart’s Sales Director.
‘It’s another way we can reassure our customers in the US and Canada, that we are actively protecting the Loch Duart brand. Now, when diners choose our delicious tasting Loch Duart salmon, we can prove its unique origins.’
A global leader in using forensic science to determine food, fibre and pharmaceutical provenance, Oritain protects the reputations of its customers by forensically tracing the actual products, not packaging or labels. Their approach proves that ‘nature gives everything specific markers that are unique to its origin’.
Food fraud is currently estimated to cost the global food industry up to $50bn, posing a real problem for chefs, restaurants and diners.
‘The ability to guarantee provenance is absolutely vital for creating our menus at Grazing. Having the confidence that when I serve Scottish salmon it can be traced back to the very waters in which it was raised is essential,’ said award-winning Scottish chef Mark Greenaway, who runs his Grazing restaurant in Edinburgh.
‘I have a particular interest in the world-class array of Scottish produce that is available to chefs, so the traceability that Loch Duart provides shows just how much they value their brand and how much they care that chefs and their diners get exactly what they pay for.’
