Intrafish, 31st March 2008

Safeway to back off Chilean salmon

Drew Cherry

Safeway, one of North America's largest retail chains, is stepping away from Chilean farmed salmon amid growing concerns about the industry's disease problems.

Sources familiar with the situation told IntraFish the retailer, which has 1,775 units across North America, informed suppliers in its Chicago, Texas, Denver and East Coast divisions last week it wanted to immediately reduce volumes of Chilean product in the wake of a report in The New York Times critical of the Chilean farmed salmon industry.

Safeway was one of two retailers, along with Costco, named in the story as U.S. suppliers of farmed Chilean salmon, which focuses primarily on the industry's long struggle with the virus infectious salmon anemia (ISA).

It is unclear how long Safeway will avoid using Chilean salmon. Some sources speculate the reduction would only be temporary, while others say the retailer is suspending purchases indefinitely.

Safeway exlusively uses Canadian farmed salmon in its West Coast division. Its Denver division also used some farmed Canadian product, sources said. Several sources said it would be difficult for Safeway to drop Chilean farmed salmon completely from its line, citing a shortage of fillet and freezing capacity out of Canada, the Faroe Islands and Norway. Some of the reduced volumes will be offset by product from the upcoming wild salmon season.

Industry trade group Salmon of the Americas (SOTA) issued both a press response and a note to the trade Monday addressing The New York Times story and refuting several of the claims regarding antibiotic use, growth hormones and food safety concerns.

A spokesperson with SOTA declined to comment on any reports retailers were dropping Chilean salmon.

Officials with Safeway, Costco and Marine Harvest -- one of the companies hardest hit by ISA in Chile and a source in the Times story -- were not immediately available for comment.

Safeway is one of North America's largest retailers. Its outlets include Vons stores in California and Nevada, Randalls and Tom Thumb in Texas, Genuardi's in Pennsylvania, and Carrs in Alaska.

Fuente: www.intrafish.com

Intrafish, 31 de Marzo, 2008.

Por Drew Cherry (resumen)

Safeway, una de las principales cadenas de retails (negocios de venta al detalle) de EEUU estaría comenzando a separarse de las exportaciones de salmón chileno para abastecer a sus clientes a raíz de la situación sanitaria de la industria que dio a conocer el N.Y.Times.

Safeway tiene una cadena de 1.775 locales a lo largo de EEUU. Junto a COSTCO, son los principales abastecedores de salmón chileno en EEUU. Distintas fuentes discrepan respecto a si esta disminución de importaciones será una medida temporal o definitiva tomada por Safeway. La agrupación empresarial SOTA, de EEUU, declinó referirse a este tema. SOTA criticó fuertemente el artículo del N.Y. Times donde se daba cuenta de los problemas sanitarios de la industria del salmón, del uso masivo de antibióticos y de hormonas de crecimiento.

Safeway control las cadenas de retails ONS Store en California y Nevada, RANDALLS y TOM THUMB en Texas, GENUARDIS en Pensilvania y CARRS en Alaska.