Norwegian Food Safety Authority audits some of the biggest salmon farmers

The fall-out from the Norwegian salmon farming industry's fish mortality crisis continues, as the Norwegian Food Safety Authority (Mattilsynet) carries out a series of high-profile audits of some of the industry's biggest players.

The Norwegian Veterinary Institute's Fish Health Report for 2023 showed fish mortality levels soared last year, with a total of 62.8 million salmon dying of disease and injury in Norwegian fish farms. Of the total number of fish slaughtered in 2023, 14.9% were reclassified as "production fish" - the lowest-quality grade of salmon - an increase of 9.7 percentage points since the measurement began in 2018.

Mattilsynet points out that the largest salmon farmers own the majority of the fish, and thus "increased attention to improving risk management and internal control among the largest farming companies could therefore result in improved animal health and welfare for a large number of individuals."

With this aim, Mattilsynet is now carrying out "system audits" at some of Norway's largest salmon companies - and SalMar, the world's second-largest salmon producer, is the first farmer to have its audit report publically released.

SalMar, which employs approximately 1,200 people in its farming operations across 130 locations in Norway, reported hefty fish mortalities last year, including a loss of approximately 1.2 million fish due to an influx of toxic jellyfish. According to Mattilsynet, the company also experienced seven confirmed outbreaks of infectious diseases, with five instances of PD and two of ILA. Its overall fish mortality rate during 2023 stood at 9.6%.

However, the current round of audits are specifically focused on the salmon industry's handling of de-licing operations, and their consequences. Treatment for sea lice is one of the main causes of injury leading to winter sores, identified in the Fish Health Report 2023 as one of the principal factors in mortality across the industry last year.

The goal of the SalMar audit, Mattilsynet wrote in its report, was "to examine whether SalMar's risk management and internal control related to biosecurity and welfare in connection with delousing operations comply with the requirements of the aquaculture legislation".

The audit found that SalMar displayed "nonconformities and improvement points" in the areas of risk management and internal control.

"SalMar has not adequately identified and assessed risks related to biosecurity and welfare in such a manner that they can develop plans and actions to comply with the requirements set by or in accordance with the Food Act and the Animal Welfare Act," the report stated.

"We assess that the risk assessments with accompanying measures and barriers, as they are presented, are not adequately suited to comply with requirements in the aquaculture legislation in daily operations," the auditors wrote.

Furthermore, in terms of internal management-level control, Mattilsynet also found room for improvement: "SalMar does not conduct systematic monitoring and review of internal control at the company level, which ensures it functions as intended."

Although SalMar does have procedures in place, the audit said: "Our findings indicate these procedures are not adhered to, and you do not utilize available data to compile a comprehensive overview and decision-making basis for welfare at the sites," the report said, noting that external audits for ASC and Global GAP certification were "not sufficient" proof the company was undertaking systematic monitoring and review of internal control.

A system audit is one of several methods the Norwegian Food Safety Authority uses to follow up regulatory compliance in the farming industry. 

According to the Authority, "a system audit is a systematic and thorough review of the company's internal systems, or parts of them. During the audit, we assess whether there is conformity between defined requirements and activities carried out in the company, and the management systems."

This audit process is undertaken in addition to the company's own follow-up and internal control, and where "deviations" are revealed, the authority releases a report on its findings - which it believes "will also be useful for other companies' internal control design." 

"We expect all farming companies to follow up and learn from the findings made known through our reports," Mattilsynet said.