Salmon - Food Safety

Our approach

Our products are designed for human consumption and adhere to rigorous food safety regulations. We thoroughly oversee every step, throughout the value chain, ensuring a high standard of protection for human health. We actively address biological, chemical, and physical hazards that could jeopardize our products. Additionally, we are alert against external threats such as food fraud and food defence. Customers and consumers can place their trust in our products, our commitment to food safety, and our robust management systems. We focus on HACCP (Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point), risk management, and traceability for each site. HACCP identifies any Critical Control Points (CCP) and Operational Control Points (OCP) and frames the risk assessment against these. We routinely send product samples to third-party laboratories for food safety testing, and employees receive food safety and quality training. Our strategic priority is industry-leading food safety. We have robust food safety and quality risk assessment systems and controls throughout the value chain. Quality assurance and control are integral to all stages of production involving daily testing and monitoring before issuing health certificates, ensuring compliance with international health and food safety regulations. To ensure operations are aligned throughout the value chain and to strengthen procedures, we have implemented a new digital quality management system, increasing the availability and usability of documents, procedures, and registrational forms. 

Food Defence  

Bakkafrost has a series of proactive measures to protect our products and company. The range of measures include advanced electronic access control systems, surveillance systems, and strictly segregated food production areas. This ensures that only designated people have access to relevant areas as well as ensuring that all employees are accounted for in case of fire or other emergencies. Keeping the products safe as well as our employees is of vital importance. 

Traceability  

Bakkafrost has control of the entire value chain from fish oil, meal and feed to egg and genetics at our hatcheries, throughout the farming process to the final product. This enables Bakkafrost to ensure full traceability throughout the value chain. Traceability can be used effectively to improve trust and engage with customers and consumers. Ensuring that our supply chain is fully traceable helps us to document the authenticity of our products and combat potential food fraud. This further supports sustainability credentials. 

Free from  

Our feed remains free from growth-promoting hormones and salmon offal or waste from other farmed species. We include only natural antioxidants to maintain nutritional quality, and our fishmeal and fish oil are ethoxyquin-free. Our products are well below EU directive limits for undesirable substances, including dioxins and dioxin-like PCB’s and we continue to look for ways to further reduce these levels. Further, the levels of perfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) including PFOS, PFOAS, PFNA, PFHxS in our salmon are either under the limit of quantification when tested or well below and in line with the EU regulatory limits as also monitored by our Food and Veterinary authorities. 

Examples of measures: