Cooke has had several ISA outbreaks at a variety of their Chilean farms since purchasing them in the wake of the massive salmon kill-off in 2008, which virtually destroyed the farmed salmon industry in that country.
Cooke has also been forced to slaughter millions of salmon at their open pen industrial farms in Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Newfoundland, some of which have been reported to have entered the consumer food chain..
EUROPEAN UNION CONCERNED
The EU regulators expressed concern in 2013 about the serial outbreaks of ISA and sea lice in Chilean farms, sending a team of inspectors to the country to verify Chilean claims that ISA control measures were in place. Chile exports of farmed salmon in 2013 amounted to 205,000 tonnes, with a value of $2.2 US billion. Exports to the EU and Russia figured prominently in those values. In 2013, Russia imported 63 700 tonnes of salmon and trout from Chile, a rise of 127% from the previous year.
But when several years later, in 2013, new outbreaks were produced in the Aysen region, major steps were noted to control the situation. The audit highlighted the comprehensive analysis performed by SERNAPESCA in the development of official investigations against suspected diseases.
ISA SALMON PROCESSED FOR SALE?
Cooke harvested hundreds of thousands of 5.5 kilo salmon from the site in the 2014 episode, with 600,000 fish, amounting to 30,000 tonnes of commercial product.
There is no record of how many of the ISA-infected salmon have been processed and distributed to consumer markets in the USA and Europe.
OTHER STORIES ABOUT THE PREVALENCE CHILEAN SALMON DISEASE ISSUES
- Outrageous harvest of ISA salmon in Chile
- ISA and sea lice prevalence in salmon on the rise
- ISA outbreak in Chile
- More sea lice outbreaks in Chilean salmon farms
- ISA outbreak confirmed
- More ISA confirmed
MORE STORIES ABOUT COOKE AQUACULTURE
