Aquaculture facility in Norway.
Photo: Norwegian Food Safety Authority (Mattilsynet).
Mattilsynet, the Norwegian Food Safety Authority, which has oversight over the biosecurity and animal welfare of Norway's aquaculture sector, has announced it will be continuing its round of farming audits during 2025.
Last year, in the wake of the fish health crisis which impacted many aquaculture operators across Norway, the authority launched a series of audits of some of the biggest farmers in the country.
This year's audits will mainly focus on fish welfare during sea lice treatments, biosafety, and the welfare of cleaner fish, the authority has announced.
The authority will be auditing companies' management systems and tools, and will also be undertaking inspections at 10-15% of each operator's locations.
"We believe that improvement at the system level means improvement for as many animals as possible," said Bård Skjelstad, Director of Aquaculture at the Norwegian Food Safety Authority, in a press release.
"We want to be clear and predictable, so that those who are going to be audited have the opportunity to initiate improvement work before we start the audit process. An important goal in this work is to contribute to shared learning in the industry, which is precisely why we publish all audit reports continuously," said Skjelstad, adding that he believes companies can greatly benefit from exchanging information.
Last year's round of audits revealed "that there is a large difference in how well companies understand the regulations and that there are several findings that are common between companies", Mattilsynet stated.
The companies thus far selected for audits during 2025 are: Lingalax, Hofseth Seafarming, Alsaker Fjord Farm, Nova Sea, Sinkaberg Aquaculture, Cermaq, The Froy Group, Kvarøy Fish Farming, Firda Sjøfarmer AS, Erko Seafood AS, Måsøval, and Mowi Seawater Norway.
The Norwegian Food Safety Authority says its inspections are risk-based, with companies selected based on size, qualitative assessments and experience from previous audits and inspections, in addition to incidents and registered mortality. Each operator will be notified of the audit well in advance, the Authority said.
