Latest news with #GiovanniTurchini
Yahoo
12-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Thousands replace divisive Aussie product with NZ alternative: 'Should've changed earlier'
A major food delivery app is ditching a controversial Aussie product and switching to a New Zealand alternative. Box Divvy, which supplies close to 13,000 households with fresh produce, announced it will no longer be selling Tasmanian farmed salmon due to concerns about sustainability and transparency. It's been a horror month for the local salmon industry, with over 1 million dying following a bacterial outbreak, and pictures showing dead salmon rotting inside pens and washing up on beaches. The RSPCA has also dropped its accreditation of Huon, one of the three major companies that operate around the island state, due to ethical concerns over 'inhumane' handling of live, sick and injured fish. Box Divvy facilitates online sales of food co-ops across NSW and ACT, and markets itself to consumers who want to avoid the major supermarkets and support farmers. Co-founder Anton van den Berg told Yahoo News the company had been feeling 'uncomfortable' about the industry for years, and after suppliers visited salmon farms across the ditch it was impressed with their methods. 'The industry has been promising to improve its sustainability and impact on the environment but the reality has been it's not really happening,' he said. Related: Is farmed salmon safe to eat? Conservationists have long warned about the impact of the industry on Tasmania's waterways, and the potential for it to harm the state's clean, green food image. In Macquarie Harbour, on the west coast, the industry's impact on water quality has been directly linked to the near extinction of the native Maugean skate. Although Coles and Woolworths market salmon farmed in this area as 'sustainable'. In Australia, wild salmon is not widely available in stores because all commercial species are native to the Northern Hemisphere. Last week, Uni Melbourne aquaculture expert Professor Giovanni Turchini told Yahoo there are few environmental differences in the farming of salmon in Australia or New Zealand, both of which are locally available. 'They are fundamentally farmed in similar ways and fed with the same feed. But please note as usual, the environmental impact of any farm activity, including salmon, is fundamentally determined by how the farm is managed,' he said. Box Divvy's supplier was impressed with the sustainability focus of the specific farms in New Zealand it visited. Another factor it considered is that Monterey Bay Aquarium's internationally renowned Seafood Watch program recommends the product. Dropping Australian salmon, rather than slowly migrating away came with some risk, as the product had been its biggest seafood seller. But the decision proved to be immediately beneficial for its bottom line, indicating it was what its customers wanted. 'Our sales are up over 15 to 20 per cent even though the New Zealand product is slightly more expensive,' van den Berg said. ❌ Call for US tourist to 'leave' Australia after 'distressing' act with baby wombat 🐊 Aussie fisherman searches for three-metre crocodile after spear attack 🐣 Once common Aussie bird among 21 new species facing extinction Now that the company has moved away from Australian grown salmon, it's unlikely to buy it again without major change. Another factor informing its decision is that the major farming operations are now owned by large foreign companies. 'With hindsight we probably should have changed earlier,' he said. 'How they run the industry in the end is up to them. That's how the market functions. 'But if consumers are voting with their feet, then I think they're going to reach a point where they're going to have to decide what they're going to prioritise. If they're simply going to chase the dollar, then they might find in the long run, they are not going to have a viable business.' Industry peak body Salmon Tas declined to comment on Box Divvy's decision. In a statement released on social media overnight, Huon's general manager of stakeholder relations said the disease outbreak was unprecedented. 'It's really important to understand that this mortality is not caused by farming practices, it is the result of a disease outbreak,' she said. Addressing its loss of RSPCA accreditation, she said the incident was 'not reflective of the high standards' of which Huon usually operates. Love Australia's weird and wonderful environment? 🐊🦘😳 Get our new newsletter showcasing the week's best stories.
Yahoo
05-03-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Farmed salmon called into question - so is it safe to eat?
Over the last two weeks, many Aussie consumers have been questioning whether they want to continue eating farmed salmon. Thousands of the fish have died inside Tasmanian aquaculture facilities over the last fortnight, sparking concern about pollution, the use of antibiotics, and the prevalence of disease. But switching to wild caught alternatives in Australia isn't an option for most, because it's not locally produced. The large foreign-owned aquaculture ventures around Tasmania's coastline supply around 90 per cent of the Atlantic salmon consumed across the nation. Very little wild Atlantic or Pacific salmon is imported fresh from its native ranges around North America, Europe and Russia. But is wild salmon more nutritious or environmentally superior? According to Melbourne University seafood expert Professor Giovanni Turchini, the answer is complicated. He is privy to the most up to date research on the seafood and aquaculture industries, and heads the multidisciplinary research team at AquaS, the Aquaculture Sustainability laboratory. Related: 'Disgusting' photos of popular Aussie food spark furious debate When it comes to Omega 3, then farmed fish generally have more of the most beneficial long-chain fatty acids EPA and DHA per milligram, and these are thought to be most beneficial to human health. But the reason farmed fish have more is that they're much fatter than their leaner wild cousins. 'It's important to educate the consumer that there's no good or bad. What is good for one person may be not good for another,' he said. 'For example, a nice fresh salad with a lot of vegetables is good for us when compared to a burger. But if you go to Central Africa where they lack protein, a burger is much better than a salad. When it comes to contaminants and pollutants being absorbed by salmon from the water they inhabit, Turchini notes they both have 'very small' risks. 'Wild salmon might have the risk of more contaminants. You don't know where they grow, so there could be environmental contaminants like PCBs, mercury, or dioxins, which in farm fish, you don't find it because typically there's a lot of environmental control of the quality of the water and the food,' he said. 'However, in farmed fish you could have other contaminants like antibiotics if they're not used properly.' Similar to most other fish, salmon flesh is naturally white. But like flamingos, its flesh turns pink due to the consumption of small crustaceans which contain astaxanthin, a carotenoid molecule similar to what we find in carrots. Farmed fish are mostly fed on a diet of pellets. 'With chickens, they use these molecules that increase the color of the yolk. The same happens in fish. Astaxanthin is a powerful antioxidant that's similar to Vitamin A and is very good for our health and good for the fish because it helps them cope with environmental stress or heatwaves,' Turchini said. And the pellets can contain either natural shrimp astaxanthin or a synthetic alternative. 'Some consumers are worried about this synthetic astaxanthin, but it's exactly like all the multivitamins they buy – all are synthetic. They are chemically identical to the natural one, and it's the reality in all food systems, not just salmon,' Turchini said. 😳 Mammoth de-extinction team produces 'groundbreaking' new creature 🚨 Aussie residents fearful as 50-metre 'toxic' towers built over community ☠️ Call for answers after poison found buried in rare predator's habitat While the scale of the recent fish deaths in Tasmania is unprecedented, but Tasmania's $1 billion salmon-farming industry has been controversial. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Opposition Leader Peter Dutton are diehard supporters of the industries, but there have been ongoing concerns about pollution from the farms. In Macquarie Harbour, the resulting lower oxygen levels have led to the near extinction of a native fish, the maugean skate, that inhabits the same waters. There have also been ongoing concerns about salmon farmers deterring seals away from the salmon with explosives and rubber bullets. Turchini believes another problem with farmed salmon is that farmers need to capture and grow food to feed the salmon, including chicken, grain and soy. But he believes it takes the pressure off wild populations, some of which have been over-fished. 'There's also the issue of bycatch – catching additional species we don't want. And then with trawling there's habitat destruction,' he said. 'But then with farmed fish there is the risk of escape. And those salmon could have an impact on the wild populations of fish.' According to Turchini, the main difference between salmon raised in Australia and New Zealand is the species. Most fish produced at home is Atlantic salmon while across the ditch it's King salmon, but they are farmed in a very similar way. 'Nutritionally they are similar on all aspects, as they are very similar species, and they are fed with basically the same feed and farmed in similar high-quality waters, with the only difference being that New Zealand king salmon contains more fat, and thus also more Omega 3. For that it is particularly appreciated on some markets, and less on others,' he said. Love Australia's weird and wonderful environment? 🐊🦘😳 Get our new newsletter showcasing the week's best stories.
